Scattering Time and Space
by Yui Sinon
Summary: Vale is left in shambles as the White Fang and Salem's Faction wreak havoc, leaving many of those who are capable of doing anything either dead or unable to make a move. Ruby Rose is left to sharpen her skills alone in this future hell. But, after a dust cache escort goes wrong, the explosion somehow misplaces her back in time. RWBY Time Travel AU
1. Chapter 1

78,928 casualties.

Amongst them were countless civilians, hunters, and hunters in training.

78,928 casualties.

78,928.

The number rang throughout the woman's mind as she sat down on a slab of rubble, her weapon propped up against a similar pile. The sky was covered in ashen, gray clouds with small rays of sunlight slowly seeping through every so often. Nothing moved or scuttled around the concrete ruins in which the woman sat down sorrowfully. Her head down low, she recollected her past memories one by one. Vale collapsed in on itself as the people began to fight each other. White Fang and its supporters gnawed away at the public's sanity as they watched their protectors fall one by one as they tried to wipe away this cruel, unwanted revolution.

527 hunters.

Renowned and revered hunters.

Hunters that spent their lives slashing away at grimm.

Hunters that were at the point of near perfection.

3,298 hunters in training.

Trainees that the woman knew.

Trainees that the woman used to chat with.

People that the woman used to live with.

A recollection of a boy with blonde hair and a simple sword and shield. A gruesome painted image of the boy's last stand, his semblance finally awakening, but all in vain.

A thought of a pair of two. One clad in green. One wielding a hammer. Grimm swarming from the sky, the land, and even underground. A hell with no end.

A girl clad in white with a girl clad in black, back to back. Machineries that used to protect the people, turn on the ones they were made to protect.

A girl with a strong head and hot temper. Her blonde beauty stills burns brightly in the woman's mind as strong as the days they spent with each other. Her smile still engraved into the woman's head, the woman frowned in discontent.

The woman's forehead creases as her mind wanders further back into memories never forgotten. A red-headed girl turned to embers by a woman of cinders.

'They're gone.' The woman says to herself.

'But not forgotten.' She smiles lightly and chuckles for only a moment, only for it to disappear and shift into a frown.

She raises her weapon up to her head. A scythe she cared for since the day she designed it. Its crimson color stained eternally black by the countless Grimm the woman of cinders released into Vale and no amount of scrubbing and cleaning will ever rid it of the blood of hundreds of thousands of grim. Its appearance had changed drastically since the day her wide-eyed past designed and created it. Its bulky frame was made slender, thus its weight was lessened. Its blade was made sharper, thus its edge could carve through whatever stood in her way. The ammo chamber was made to holster more rounds per clip and the rounds themselves were enhanced with fire dust for more firepower.

She sighed heavily as she lifted the scythe's blade closer to her head.

'It's time, I guess."

The woman had lived an eventful life. One with friends around her who cared and fought with and alongside her. Her mother was gone when she was young, but she always had faint, hazy memories of her stowed away in the back of her mind. Her sister was enthusiastic and always kept her going. It almost seemed like she'd be with her forever.

The woman looked over towards a nearby puddle and stared down at her reflection. She had become what she always wanted to become back then. A skilled huntress, one with a history of amazing feats that always surprised her colleagues. She tried to emulate her mother in a way where she donned a white cloak with a red underside as she steadily made her way up to the highest of honors a huntress could possibly achieve. Hell, she even grew up to look almost exactly like her, as her now gray haired father once said to her. Not that it mattered. Her duty was to 'Uphold the peace of the world.', yet there was no longer any peace to speak of. She couldn't even uphold the peace of her own world.

She slowly inched it closer and closer to her head and neck. Her grip tightens as she readies herself for the next step. She pulls-

…

Bits of the woman's hair fly into the wind- a perfect straight cut, just like she wanted. Not that she was ever good at cutting her own hair. She couldn't do it properly due to not having the tools one would consider orthodox. But, she had a blade- albeit quite big- and she was determined to get a simple annoyance out of the way. Her hair was now just above shoulder height. Unsurprisingly, barbers are quite hard to get a hold of due to most of them hightailing it out of Vale, and the rest dying to either the invading creatures of Grimm or the White Fang. Hell, some of the barbers were in the White Fang themselves. Faunus aside, there were supporters of them that were human and desired total equilibrium between the two races, even going to as far as supporting the Civil War in Vale and fighting and killing those that opposed. People killing People. Adam Taurus must've smile a hundred times as he saw the cities being conquered one by one.

But then, we move on to a whole new level of evil.

Salem's faction effectively had Vale in an iron grip behind the sees as they carried out their list of hits on any forces that could possibly be a threat to their group. Salem had struck a deal with Adam, and their plans worked perfectly in their favor, leaving the opposing hunters and everyone else in shambles.

Nothing really was the same anymore. The years that had passed had left Vale a place of ruin, a place where Grimm walked where people once roamed. Taking out a small device hidden within her cloak, she scrolled through a list of jobs. There was a big difference between most of them. They followed a certain 'side' or extreme. It was either something like this:

 _SEARCH AND DESTROY_

 _ANY NON WHITE FANG SUPPORTERS_

 _QUADRANT 7_

 _MISSION START: ASAP_

Or this:

 _ESCORT_

 _DUST CACHE_

 _QUADRANT 7_

 _MISSION START: ASAP_

Hell, maybe even this:

 _SEARCH AND DESTROY_

 _WHITE FANG_

 _QUADRANT 6_

 _MISSION START: 14 DAYS_

One could guess which side the client was on by just staring at the simple orders. There was rarely any jobs related to the Grimm anymore. The people were more interested on keeping other in check instead of the Grimm. Suddenly, a light beeping sound was heard in a different tab. The woman quickly switched to the tab, saw that she had an incoming call, and picked up.

"...Hello?" She said lightly.

"Ironwood had an idea."

She then promptly hung up.

Nope.

Not dealing with that.

Another call came in.

"R, it's important. You can't just ha-"

"Whatever trump card he's planning, I'm not buying it."

"But it even looks fool proof! Look, I'll give you the details when we meet up, so at least-"

"Fuck no."

Beep.

She sighed in frustration as the wind began to pick up.

"...I'll do the escort mission." She said while rubbing her eyes and yawning.

She walked to a ruined building next to a rundown, but still slightly functional bridge. The area around said building wasn't in a much better shape, either the walls were cracked and riddled in holes or it was only just a pile of rubble. A rusted train lay outside of the ruined building. Inside, she saw a man in a torn, brown trench coat,

"You're the hunter who picked up the job, right?" He said as he stepped out of the shadows. His hair was a deep brown and in tangles; Bandages were wrapped around the man's forehead and stained red. His face didn't seem to be doing any better with the long scars that seemed to crawl down to his neck. The woman only nodded slowly

"Alright." The man says as he clears his throat. "I'm going to load the dust cache from the back of the station onto the train. It may not look like it, but it's still functional. You're going to have keep guard while I do so. When the train starts up, we're both going to have to hop on and hope we reach the destination before the White Fang notice and chase us down."

Work began immediately as the man hurried from to the back and hauled a cart full of dust containers towards the cargo of the train. The woman stood on top of the building keeping an eye out for any would be attackers. The hours ticked by as the moon rose higher and higher into the sky, the man breathing heavily as he continued to push the cart back and forth, hauling containers full of dust to the train. She deduced that under the rough exterior of the man was either a strong will or strong muscles. It didn't look like he had the latter, due to him stopping often to catch his breath and curse under it.

As the moon rose to its peak, the hauling was done and it was time to board the train,

"All Aboard!" The man says loudly towards the woman, cracking a smile.

She jumps down to the ground as she takes one more good look at the rickety, old train.

Could this actually be functional in the slightest?

But the thought dies down as the train begins to whistle loudly. Hurrying aboard, the woman goes to the front to see the man fiddling with controls.

"Do you actually know how to use this thing?" She asked as the flashing controls continued to confuse her. Not that she was all that good with vehicles mind you. Never bothering to get a driver's license, she could at least get the gist of a car but never actually drive it. Much less with a train.

"Yeah, I do. Used this train quite a while ago. A bit nostalgic, actually." The man says as he cracks another smile.

The grinding of gears could be heard throughout the train as it began to move forward onto the bridge, slowly gaining speed.

"We should be fine now, as long as the White Fang doesn't notice us." The man says as he takes a seat. The woman went to the other side of the train car and took a seat against the wall. The hours go by slowly as the train now speeds past yellow, orange, and red leafed trees. She goes into a fitful doze, her sleeping figure constantly rustling around as the same dream plays once again.

White. White snow underfoot in a black forest. Trees that are bare without leaves. The cold wind blowing hard in her face. A grave in front of her. A white figure past it. White petals scatter as she disappears into the wind. The woman's hand extends towards her as the last of the petals get blown away by the wind. A dark, grim feeling flows throughout her as she tries to chase the petals, only to be rooted in place, unable to move.

Her eyes flicker open as the train jumps up suddenly and lands violently back onto the tracks.

"Just another dream." She mutters under her breath.

"What was that?" Surprised, the man looks over to the woman to see her awake.

"Nothing." She says as she moves the stray hairs out of her face. She spends the rest of the time staring out of the window, trees speeding past her. The moon is still high in the sky, illuminating the train car.

"So… uh. Got any family?" The man says slowly, trying to break the silence.

"..." She replies, her eyes slowly turning towards the man.

"Well, uh. I've got a daughter waiting back home for me. She's probably real worried I haven't come back yet. She's a tough girl. I think she can hold up for a little more. Her Ma always was a strong-hearted woman." The man clears his throat. "I really can't stop thinking about my daughter."

"...How old is she?" The woman asks, startling the man.

"She's about 4. Her mother died giving birth. We still miss her, we do."

'His daughter was born into this war.' The woman thought to herself. 'No child should have to deal with this… hell.'

"What about you?" The man asks again, still hoping he's not overstepping his boundaries.

"I used to have some relatives."

"Used to?" He lifts an eyebrow.

"They're long gone now."

"Oh." The other eyebrow goes up as he realizes his mistake. "I'm, uh, really sorry for asking."

"It's fine. You didn't know."

Silence ensues for the next hour as the night seemed almost endless.

"Do you hear that?" The man asks looking around in confusion. The woman stands up, staying vigilant. Listening in, there was a rather faint sound around them. Listening more, she deduces that it's coming from above and hops to the top of the train car.

"Do you see anything?" The man says cautiously.

There was, indeed, _something._ It was bright red and seemed to be getting much closer by the second.

"Shit."

"What?"

Unsheathing her weapon, she quickly switched to its rifle mode. Aiming carefully, she hurriedly fired several shots from it and found a satisfying red explosion about a few hundred feet above her.

"Hey! How far are we from the location?"

"We're about halfway there, why?"

"They might've found-"

The sound of an explosion could be heard from the very back of the train. The transparent shape of several things could be seen gaining speed to the front of the car.

"What was that?!' The man shouted in surprise. The transparent shapes began to appear visibly- several floating ships were to the left and right of the train and were opening their side hatches to reveal a group of people clad in white uniforms- the White Fang.

"They've found us, damn it!" She says as she fires from her weapon at the attacking ships. The shots take down a ship to her right, but the other ships close in, dropping their soldiers onto the top of the train. Clicking a switch on the side, her weapon transforms back into its scythe form. The woman takes a stance, and seemingly disappears into thin air, only leaving white petals in her absence. The front line of soldiers turn into a fine, red mist as the woman appears back into her original spot. Soldiers keep jumping onto the train from the dropship seemingly infinite.

"How're you doing down there?!" She shouts downwards, only to hear no response. She jumps down, back to the front train car, only to see the man driving it in a pool of blood- a sword sticking out from his back. Gunshot wounds littered his corpse.

"No!" She shouts in anger as she jumps back onto the top of the train. Taking another stance, she darts into the crowd of soldiers at frightening speeds, instantly cleaving through most of the opposition and leaving their parts to fall off the side of the train. The soldiers take a step back in fear as they see most of their comrades die in one swipe. In their eyes, they see something utterly terrifying, a monster wielding a scythe stained with the blood of their fallen comrades. That bloodied image is that last thing they see as their bodies are cut into two by another swing of the woman's weapon, instantly clearing the top of the train and staining it crimson. She takes a look at the surrounding ships, still dropping off more and more White Fang soldiers onto the train's blood stained roof. In the corner of her eye, she sees a familiar bright red light ramming straight into the side of the train, and directly into the dust cache. Her vision goes black.

White. White snow falling down from the sky. She picks herself up once again, wiping the snow away from her figure. How did she end up here? Taking a few steps forward, her blurry vision suddenly sharpens. A grave on the top of a cliff. A black forest behind her. A cold wind blowing across her face. A familiar feeling looms over her. 'The grave should've been blown up by the explosives Salem's faction sent to Patch. None of this should even be here.' She thought to herself.

The grim thought of her dying clouded her mind. Could she be really dead? Is that why Patch is still here? She looked down at the familiar grave once more.

 _Summer Rose_

 _Thus Kindly I Scatter_

She frowned at those words. It was indeed her mother's grave, untouched and not destroyed. Yet something was missing. She buried her father right next to her mother's grave. Its absence confused her.

"Summer?" A voice rang out behind her. Her eyes widened as she turned around. Behind her was a man with messy, blonde hair and blue eyes. The man instantly reminded her of her own father, Taiyang Xiao Long in his early days.

"Mom?!" A young voice called out in surprise from behind the man. It was a young silver eyed girl dressed in a black blouse and a red cloak. The girl reminded the woman of herself when she was younger.

Then it clicked.


	2. Chapter 2

The cold wind blew gently as the realization began to dawn upon her.

 _Something was very, very wrong._

Out of instinct, she turned around and began to run.

"Mom? Mom?!" She heard behind her as she sped away, leaving only white petals in her wake. Speeding through the black forest, she began to contemplate the meaning of what was happening. Perhaps she's just hallucinating. Perhaps, she may just in another one of those dreams again. Dreams are this realistic, right? Right? Dreams carry on for this long, right? _'These woods seemed too vivid and lively to be a dream.'_ A small voice speaks in the back of her head. Her heartbeat began to race as she began to run faster and faster, not looking back towards the cliff she ran down from. Nothing seemed to make sense anymore. Her father was there, but much younger than when she last saw him. Even her _past self_ was there, staring at her with wide eyes. This all seemed too much for her to handle. There had to be a reason. There had to be a reason why this was happening. A sickening sensation came over her as she stopped directly in her tracks. Her face quickly turned paler as the sensation in her head began to hurt more and more. Ruby's vision blurs significantly as she almost collapses from disorientation.

Suddenly, her vision sharpens once more. She finds herself somewhere unfamiliar. Not the snowy black forests of Patch, but a strange factory of mechanical units. Atlesian Knights were lined up neatly row by row against the grey walls of the complex. Around the corner were two Atlesian Soldiers chatting away in a hushed voice. One was clad in a uniform outlined in green while the other's was outlined in blue. She finds it hard to control herself as she knocks over a series of boxes and crates filled with spare parts. The noise catches the soldiers' attentions as they turn to face towards the staggering Ruby.

"Hey! What're you doing here?!" One of them shouts out as the laser sights from their rifles appear on her body. Groggily, she opens her mouth to respond- only for another strong, painful sensation to overcome her once more. Her vision blurs significantly as she collapses onto the cold, hard factory floor. The soldiers are surprised to see this and drop their aim to run over to her.

"Hey, are you okay miss? Miss?!" One of them shouts out as the other tries to extend a helping hand towards the collapsed Ruby. Their silhouettes gray out and darken until she could see no more.

She finds herself standing in unfamiliar territory as her vision lightens and focuses once more. In front of her was a bustling intersection, filled with cars while civilians strolled on the sidewalk chatting with each other casually.

"What the hell…" She mutters as she lifts her hand to her forehead. The pain was gone. She took in her surroundings once more; it was a shining city filled with more life than she'd seen in months. The piles of rubble and ruined buildings had no inhabitants whatsoever, leaving it in a declining state in which they continued to crumble slowly. It was a beautiful sight to behold as she saw the much missed clothing stores and restaurants scattered about. Perhaps she could order a new pair of headphones to replace the ones she had lost years ago, or maybe get some ice cream. 'An ice cream sundae would be awesome.' She thought to herself, licking her lips hungrily. She missed eating those desserts; you could never find anything sweet or savory anymore without putting in far too much trial and error in making them. Ruby had never once in her life been able to make proper ice cream sundaes, or proper ice cream in general for that matter. Her train of thought was broken by a familiar beeping from her person. Pulling her scroll out, she realized that the list of jobs had been updated. There were far more jobs in general and most of them related to the Grimm. However, one struck her odd as she skimmed over it.

 _BOUNTY_

 _ROMAN TORCHWICK_

 _QUADRANT 1_

 _MISSION START: ASAP_

'Torchwick? Shouldn't he be dead?' She thinks to herself in surprise. The orange haired villain had been eaten by a griffon. Not only did she see it with her two eyes, but she herself kicked said griffin into his stolen Atlesian airship, causing it to crash. Placing her hand on her forehead in frustration, she began to walk in a brisk pace as she tried to understand her current situation. As she walked, her ears caught on to some kind of rabble and watched as her eyes moved on their own towards it. To her right was a TV store window, where several TVs were on display and all playing the very same News channel. Her ears honed in, hearing a very familiar news broadcast: "Dust Thief Roman Torchwick has escaped out of prison yet again and robbed several more dust shops scattered throughout the city. Authorities are still trying to nail down the culprit…" As Vale News Network's Lisa Lavender began to drawl on about needless information, Ruby's eyes wandered down to the date:

 _January 6_ _th_ _, 7231 AA_

'That's not right.' She thought to herself as she slowly took out her scroll and looked at the date listed for reference.

December 2nd, 7242 AA

'This' She thought, 'This doesn't make any sense. That would mean I'm back in the past.' Then, it finally dawned on her. She _was_ back in the past. It explained why her father looked so young. It explained why she found her younger self right next to him. Creasing her forehead once again, she walked forward at a brisk pace once more, eventually taking a seat at a nearby Stardust Café. But then how the hell did she get back here in the first place? Thinking back before this strange series of events happened, she was doing a dust cache escort mission when the White Fang suddenly attacked them. The driver was then killed and she was left to fend for herself against the attackers. Then, something bright red rammed into the side of the train. 'It must've activated the dust cache in the cargo hold, causing it to explode. My aura wouldn't have been able to handle it. Shouldn't I have died then?' She thought to herself.

"Miss, what'll it be?" A waitress walks up with a scroll in her hand, ready to take orders.

"Ah- uh, a cappuccino, please." Ruby's train of thought breaks as she looks up at the waitress.

January 6th, 7231 AA. That would mean her younger self would be starting her time at Beacon the day after. She would've been announcing her enrollment at Beacon to her father and her mother's grave. _Then she saw me_. Ruby sighed heavily as the waitress came back with her drink. Not that she really enjoyed coffee all that much. It helped greatly to keep her up during nights in which she needed to. She didn't really enjoy it that much as a drink itself, only slightly. A light tap could be felt on her shoulder as she took a few sips from the cappuccino. Turning her head, she found a seemingly familiar busty blonde with an orange scarf staring at her with a confused look.

"Yes?" She said slowly.

"You're not who I think you are… right?"

'What a silly question.' She thought to herself as she turned her head back to take another sip from her coffee. 'Nobody would know who I really am in this time period. At best, my past self or family would mistake me for my mother.'

"Not sure what you're talking about." She said idly as her eyes focused on the girl's figure once again, doing a spit take as the details came flooding in. "What?!" Looking back at her, she realized exactly who she was. Her deceased sister, Yang –albeit younger, was standing right next to her. Yang's eyes widened as she seemingly confirmed her doubt.

"Aha! So you ARE!" The blonde says in triumph, pointing.

"I… I'm what?" Ruby says, her eyes trying to drift away, only to snap back in place.

"Mom, I've missed you! We've missed you! Where've you been?! It's been years!" She says, motioning towards herself.

"I'm… not sure what you're… talking about…" Her face slowly contorting into a frown as she a drop of sweat slowly begins to travel down her face. "Oh crap." She mutters.

"Come on, Ruby's going to be so happy to see you again!" Yang says, grabbing the older woman in an almost inescapable bear hug.

"Y-Yang, not now. Please. I'm happy to see you, yes, but-"

"You _do_ remember me!" The blonde says happily, hugging harder than before.

"Yang, Yang, you're crushing my ribs- my ribs! - owww!"

Ruby falls on her feet as she finally gets released from Yang's hug.

"So, what are you doing here?" Yang asks.

"I was, uh, getting a coffee. Hehe." Ruby says, lifting her now empty cup of cappuccino. Now that she got a good look at Yang, she realized that she was around the same height as her. Well, she remembered that Yang WAS taller than her in the future, but still. The two stood silent as Ruby continued to avert her gaze from her sister. Taking a seat down, she called the waitress over and asked if she could get another cup.

"Thank you."

"So!" Yang said as she took a sit at the table, propping up her elbow to support her chin. "How ya doing?" She said, smiling.

"Nothing much…" Ruby said as she tried her best to crack a smile. She _was_ grateful to see her sister once again, but this wasn't exactly the best moment for her to waffle about it. Especially when she's in this kind of predicament.

"Well, Ozpin, the head of Beacon Academy, let Ruby in 2 years early! Could you imagine that?! My special little sister was just given a free pass! I'm so proud of her!"

"Really?! I'm, uh, happy." She replied 'joyfully', beginning to sweat more and more.

"She's going to start enrollment tomorrow with me. Don't worry, Mom, I'll make sure she'll have an awesome time!"

"I'm grateful, Yang. Thank you. I-uh, have to get going now. See ya." Ruby said, quickly calling over the waitress.

"And… Yang?"

"Yes?"

"Please don't tell anyone about me, okay?" Ruby whispered as she tried to pull another smile.

"Huh? Oh- Oh! I get it. You're going to surprise Ruby!" She said as a joyful look came upon her face. "Don't take too long, okay?"

"Of course!" She replied once again, pulling another one of best smiles she could do at the time.

"Here's the check, miss." She says, pushing a button on her scroll to show the amount of Lien needed for the two cappuccinos. _7 Lien 25 cents._ Ruby reaches into her cloak to bring out a red wallet brimming with Lien. Her job as a huntress had paid well in the small bits of downtime she had ever since she graduated from Beacon. Most of her time was occupied by trying to deal with Salem and her goons.

"Thank you for the coffee." Ruby says as she hurriedly exits the café. What was she doing, being here? What was she supposed to be doing? She didn't have anything to do here besides the jobs on the list. Actually, she didn't have any to do _back there_ except the jobs on the list. Perhaps she could stop and live an honest life? ' _It was said that those born with silver eyes were destined to live the life of a warrior.'_ Qrow's words rang throughout her head. Ugh. She didn't understand much of it back then, but she sure as hell did understand it in the future. She had lived the life of one taking the lives of people and Grimm alike. Not that she really detested it anymore, but the events in the future had molded her into what she was now. There was _real_ work to be done. Not the kind of work hunters were offered, but personal work. She had to stop the series of events that made the future how miserable it was. She knew the one thing she had to do. Kill the ones responsible. Then what? She had nowhere to go. Not that she had anywhere to go in the future- but that's beside the point. She could continue her life as a hunter, doing jobs that may or may not be disreputable, and hunt the Grimm. Ruby could then rent an apartment room somewhere and continue from there onward.

Suddenly, she feels a light touch in her cloak accompanied with an obvious absence. Turning her head, she sees the silhouette and green hair of Emerald Sustrai dart around the corner. Dashing around the corner and sneaking around an empty alleyway, she hears the familiar voice of Mercury and Emerald chatting away.

"We just caught a big one."

"Really? How much?"

"A lot. I'm guessing over forty-thousand Lien and counting."

"Woahohoho!"

"Well, what do we want to spend this fortune on, eh? Maybe stay at a beach resort for a few months? Buy the things we've always wanted?"

At that point, Ruby's patience had reached her limit. She wasn't going to allow her life's savings to be taken away by thief, not mentioning that said thief was Emerald, a member of Cinder and Salem's faction. She just couldn't let this chance slip. Disappearing in a flurry of white rose petals, she unsheathed her scythe and hooked it around Emerald's neck without her noticing.

"What?" Emerald said as she sees her colleague's expression change instantly.

"You've got 5 seconds to give me back my wallet before I chop your head off."

Surprised, Emerald slowly turned her head towards the sound of the voice. She sees a woman with a white cloak, hooking what seemed to be a jet black scythe around her neck. Instantly realizing the situation, she quickly raised the wallet towards her attacker, only for the scythe to abruptly sink in to the outer layer of skin of her neck. Emerald's eyes widened in fear as she felt the edge sink in to her skin.

"H-hey! I gave you what you asked!"

"The rest." Ruby said, eyeing Emerald's right pocket. Quickly grabbing the sizable amount of Lien from her pocket, she handed it towards the woman.

"Okay- Okay! Here!"

Grabbing her wallet and the Lien that was inside, Ruby began to skim through what Emerald had seemingly returned. But she wasn't done yet. In an instant, she punched Emerald into several crates situated in the alley, causing a cloud of Lien to pop out from her person. Mercury stood there dumbstruck at what had happened. How could the woman have possibly known that Emerald was using her semblance?

"And you." He turned away from Emerald to see Ruby's silver eyes almost pierce into his soul. "If I see you guys one more time, you're all going to end up in pieces. You hear me?"

"Y-yes ma'am!" He said abruptly, running towards his colleague to help her up. Ruby kneeled down to pick her Lien cards that were scattered about the alley. Frankly, she had to deal with Emerald's shenanigans in the future to the point where she was extremely paranoid about all and any actions she did. It wasn't until months later she managed to take her down and made sure Emerald wasn't in any state to use her semblance. Or breathe, for that matter.

Her mind began to wander once more as she continued to walk down the street. She knew what she had to do. How would she do it, though? Ozpin was still alive in this time period, so perhaps she could go to him. Ruby could probably work something out with him.

"Alright…" She mumbled. "Gotta get to Beacon, then."


	3. Chapter 3

She walked along the side walk, crossing streets and eyeing stores as she passed by. She then, turned around and walked the opposite direction. Ruby then turned around once more. Ruby Rose, evidently, was lost. How long has it been since she graduated from beacon? She couldn't have forgotten the way back. Could she? Considering that she started enrollment in January, and spent around 3 years or so in Beacon, it seemed a bit unlikely that she did. However, the Grimm attack did a number on the school, and she couldn't access it the months or even years after due to the Grimm Dragon still frozen on top of the building. Thinking back, she arrived there the first time via airship when she started her first day. Perhaps she could catch a ride on one used for public means. Taking out her scroll once more, she flipped to a page showing a map of the kingdoms. Turning on the GPS functions, and updating the map, she set it to the nearest station of airships heading for Beacon Academy. To her dismay, they were all booked for tomorrow. The day of the first semester. "Crap." She muttered to herself. She was now going to have to walk from the commercial district of Vale, all the way to Beacon Academy. On foot. It wasn't all that appealing, actually. Setting her scroll's GPS to Beacon Academy, it marked where her location was and how far she was from her destination. She sighed as she continued to walk down the street, occasionally taking glances down at her scroll and changing direction.

Faintly, she hears some music playing close by. Diverging from her path, she came upon a store that appeared to sell music. In the glass windows outside the store, there was a copy of " _This Will Be The Day_." on show with its music playing inside the store. Her eyes flickered as she remembered how often she'd listen to it back then. Darting in the store, she grabbed a copy of it, along with " _Red Like Roses_ " part one and part two. She also grabbed a copy of _"I Burn"_ and _"Mirror, Mirror"_. Almost drooling, she rushed over to the completely unaware store clerk. After catching the sound Ruby drooling and breathing heavily, she peeped past her celebrity magazine nonchalantly.

"Oh. Welcome to Grimm Stereo. Just put your items here and I'll bring them up in the machine." She yawned, patting the counter absentmindedly as she put her magazine to the side. Placing down the albums on the counter, Ruby realizes that she'll need something to listen to the music with. Her old, red rose decaled headphones were broken beyond repair, leaving her without music for around 5 years to the end of the 11 year period. Looking around the store, she found nothing of that description, but decided to ask anyway.

"Hey, uh, do you have any red headphones with rose decals?" She said, tapping the ends of her index fingers together.

"Oh, those? We just ran out a few weeks ago. There weren't any more shipments after that." She said, slack jawed.

"Dang it." Ruby said, cursing her luck. Thinking back, she remembered that the pair she bought back then was the last in stock. She managed to grab it before a similar hyperactive and giddy teenage girl did.

"But uh, if I could interest you in something close to it…" A crude smile came upon the clerk's face as she broke Ruby's train of though. Pulling out a white box, she revealed the contents to be a pair of white headphones with white rose decals.

"People always asked why we had these. The song was _"Red Like Roses"_ so the color didn't appeal to them."

"I… uh…"

The clerk bent over the counter, motioning Ruby to come listen closer.

"Look, my boss says I absolutely _need_ to sell at least one pair of these to someone by the end of the week or I'm out of here. They have a problem with having their merchandise fail in sales. And they think _I'm_ problem." Her face putting on a look of desperation.

"Couldn't they just _throw_ them out?" Ruby said, raising an eyebrow.

"My boss doesn't like going back on their investments, okay. Please? I'm begging you. I've been getting kicked out of jobs constantly, and this one's the last on the list!" The clerk says, clapping her hands together.

"Okay, okay! Look, I don't think they're _that_ bad. I was going to buy a pair when I saw it." Ruby said, putting her hands up in protest.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You're a life saver." She said, handing it over to Ruby with a genuine smile upon her face. Adding up the prices on the machine, she told Ruby that the sum of her purchases was around 150 Lien.

"Don't mention it." Ruby smiled weakly as she handed the Lien to the clerk.

"Oh- oh, oh! Could I interest you in a free repair coupon?" The clerk said, hastily grabbing a card from her pocket as she tried to raise her hand to stop Ruby.

"Uh… thanks." She said, grabbing the coupon.

"You can redeem it in the following 2 minutes!"

"But… doesn't that mean it's just going to be a useless scrap of paper when I leave?" Ruby said as she raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Look, I don't make the rules around here."

Outside, she took out a small card from the copy of "This Will Be the Day" she purchased, and slotted it into her scroll. She grabbed the white rose decal headphones and connected them with her scroll to hear a faint tune coming from the headphones themselves. Putting them on, she smiled as one of her favorite songs began to play. Looking down at her scroll once more, she is surprised to see that she's already more than halfway to Beacon. Glancing at the time, she realized that it was already half past noon, and that she'd be there way before the sun decides to set. Smirking, she spent the rest the way humming to the sound of her music.

As she reached the entrance of Beacon, old, peaceful memories came flooding back to her. She giggled as she remembered how she sneezed fire all over Weiss after knocking over several dust containers. Ruby also remembered how all the students were outside in the courtyard and how she'd be drooling over all the diverse weapons they had. Hell, if she could, she would look at them a _second_ _time_ when they arrived tomorrow. Walking through the empty courtyard, she finally reached to entrance to the main building. After walking past the lobby, she headed for the main office in the center of the academy, taking long looks at pieces of the building on her way there.

As she opened the door to the main office, she saw a familiar figure tapping away at a terminal in the back of the room. It was Glynda Goodwitch, the assistant of the Headmaster of Beacon Academy, Ozpin. As Ruby slowly walked up to her, she barely took notice, more focused on her work than anything else in the vicinity. Glynda's facial features scrunched up as she continued doing her work, obviously not enjoying the process of making sure all the documents are in order.

"How could _he_ have possibly made it this far with _those_ papers?" She says in frustration. "What is he thinking..?!"

"….I'd actually like to see him, please." Ruby says furtively, hoping not to intrude.

"The headmaster is busy right now. I'm sure he'd appreciate not being interrupted. You can schedule a meeting with him another time, so-"Her eyes widened abruptly as she slowly gazed up from the terminal. Slowly, her jaw falls open, exposing the inside of her mouth.

"Hello." Ruby smiles nervously.

Glynda blinks twice in disbelief as she sees Ruby standing right in front of her. Lowering her gaze, she mutters quietly to herself.

"Okay, Glynda. Keep a hold of yourself. You've been sorting through these documents for a bit longer than you should have. As soon as you're finished with this last section, take a break in your office…" The huntress then proceeds to continue doing what she was doing previously, taking deep breaths as she sorts through the last section of documents. Seeing that Glynda was not going to be of much help any time soon, she takes a seat next to the counter. Glynda's gaze occasionally flickers towards Ruby as she taps away at the terminal. As she does so, her breathing wavers for a few seconds before resuming as normal. Half an hour passes as she finally finishes her last few bits of work. Glynda sighs in relief as she stands up from her chair and slowly walks towards Ozpin's office. Ruby, seeing that Glynda was finally was doing something besides angrily staring at a terminal screen, trails Glynda while staying a few feet behind her.

Inside Ozpin's office, Professor Ozpin was casually drinking coffee from his mug as he stood near the edge of the room. It was only a moment until Ozpin came to realize Glynda's presence at the back of the room.

"Ah, Glynda. I do believe that the documents are now in order?" He said whilst turning to face her.

"Yes, they are. But there's one I'd like to talk about specifically."

"The one pertaining to Mr. Arc's transcripts? I'm fully aware of that. However, he must have gone through certain lengths to get this far. I'm wondering why he'd go through all that trouble in the first place. Not to mention that I'm interested in seeing what he will bring to the table." Ozpin said, tenderly taking another sip from his mug. As he lowers the mug, he sees something white in the corner of his eye. A woman in a white cloak. Taking a confused glance at his coffee, he came back to stare at Glynda for a moment.

"Glynda, was there something you put in my coffee?" He said, glancing back and forth between Ruby and his coffee mug.

"No, why?" Glynda replied with a look of disbelief.

"Glynda. Look behind you."

Glynda glances behind her, her eyes once again catching Ruby.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about." She says, turning her head back to Ozpin. Ozpin's eyes narrowed down in annoyance as he strolled closer and closer towards the two. As he went past Glynda, his eyes met with Ruby Rose once more.

"Hello, Ozpin." Ruby said nervously. Ozpin turned to face towards Glynda once again, then back.

"Glynda."

"Yes?"

"She's just spoke."

"…"

"Glynda."

"…Yes. She just did."

The three stood in silence, eyeing each other occasionally until finally Ozpin came up with a decision. She walked back to his counter and hastily put down his coffee mug. His gaze turned towards Ruby once more as he beckoned her to take a seat, then for Glynda to come closer. Ozpin rested his elbows on the counter, folding his hands neatly in front of his face. His gaze narrowed down at Ruby once more, inspecting her to make sure he wasn't hallucinating.

"Now. I'm quite sure that I _know_ that Summer has been dead for quite a long time. Contrary to what the documents said, saying that "She went on a mission and never came back."" He says, sighing heavily. "But perhaps if she did come back… why _now_?"

Ruby was having trouble answering him. She knew it herself that her mother never came back and was ultimately dead. She knew that she could only pass off as her mother by looks and voice alone. Yet, she had no idea how to break it down to Ozpin that she, Ruby Rose, had come back from the future to warn him about a catastrophic event without sounding like a complete maniac. She furrowed her brow in annoyance as she rested her hand on her forehead.

"Surely, if she did come back, there had to be a reason why she stayed back all these years, never contacting anyone." Ozpin said, his eyes almost glaring.

"Ozpin…" Ruby said, looking up at Ozpin. His eyes widened as it met hers. As he had a closer look, he realized that they were the exact same silver eyes as Summer herself. It was almost as if she hadn't died at all.

"….Yes?" He said, raising an eyebrow.

"Please. Just let me gather my thoughts."

Ozpin's heart wavered as he heard her voice more clearly. It matched. 'No, no. It couldn't possibly be her.' He thought.

Silence ensued as the two stopped talking. Ruby thought back to the future, thinking of the countless crusades her, her team, and most of Beacon academy did in an effort to stop whatever was happening. Following Ozpin's disappearance during the Battle of Beacon, he was somehow _still_ communicating with them even though the CCT was down. During these briefings, he gave us crucial information about the enemy at hand and what was happening. These meetings escalated to crucial plans as the stakes began to raise higher and higher. More and more of our allies began to fall, leaving only a select group of people left alive to see his briefings. His composure began to deteriorate as he sees his plans break apart in his own eyes. Then, the transmissions stopped. Not only did those transmissions stopped, but so did the hearts of over half of the remaining 'survivors'. During the next few years, the last remaining people began to be picked off, one by one as the White Fang and Salem's Faction began to bite down on them. Finally, as the last few of them were gone, only Ruby remained.

The day was dark and cloudy. Heavy rain was falling as Ruby began to stagger towards a piece of debris for shelter. Her face full of anguish and desperation, she sat down to rest and curse under her breath. The last battle she had partaken in left several major injuries that still leave scars still this day. She had several holes in her abdomen that were bleeding profusely, suffered several head injuries, a dislocated shoulder, and a long, long, gash that extended from her right shoulder all the way down to her left thigh. As her aura hastily tried to repair these wounds, she swore. Then swore again. And again. And again. As the hours ticked by with the rain not getting any lighter, her ears stopped ringing to hear a light beeping noise coming from her cloak. Slowly, she pulled it out and widened her eyes at what she saw. A call from Ozpin.

Ruby now knew what to use to get Ozpin on her side. His last interaction with her. Reaching into her cloak, she pulled out her scroll. Ozpin's eyes raised as he sees Ruby's sudden movements.

"There's something I'd like to show you." She said, a solemn look covering her face. Ozpin was furtively staring at Ruby as she stood up from her chair and placed the scroll on the counter, integrating with it. Suddenly a figure appeared in the middle of the room, standing with their hands behind their back. It was a man with the same stature and build as Ozpin. The same scarf. The same outfit. The same hairstyle, yet more messy. Ozpin stood up in horror at what he saw in front of him. The man's gaze turned to face towards Ruby and Ozpin, along with Glynda, whose mouth was gaping wide with shock.

"By the time you're viewing this, I will be dead. As of right now, _if Glynda had set this properly_ , today is December 24th, 7240. The ones responsible for this have grown far too powerful for my liking. They have killed many, many people. Some of which, may have been someone close to you. The White Fang, along with Salem, have turned Vale into a war zone. Those who can possibly stop them now are either dead, or unable to make a move whatsoever. However, there is one thing that still exists in me that many do not have. _Faith._ Ruby Rose, I will put the last of my faith in _you_ to carry out these last few orders.

One: Don't die.

Two: If your life is threatened, _run._

Three: Hide.

And Four: _Reap._

 _Clockwork to Scatter."_

Ozpin's eyes were widened to a frightening extent. He wasn't sure what just happened. Actually, he knew exactly what happened. His future self had just spoken to him from beyond the grave. Ozpin sat back down on his chair and reached deep into the counter, pulling out a canteen brimming with a dark liquid. He grabs his now empty coffee mug and begins to pour, only to abruptly put it back down and take a big sip from the canteen itself, much to Glynda's disbelief. Wiping away the excess alcohol with his sleeve, he muttered to himself in annoyance. He raised his eyes towards Ruby slowly only to down another long drink from his canteen once more. Brushing off the excess alcohol again, he took a long, look at Ruby.

"It appears I was mistaken. You are not Summer, but Ruby Rose, the same student who I met with last week, come from the future. Correct?"

"…Yes." Ruby said, a bit distraught from the alcoholic scent coming from the canteen in Ozpin's hand. She never had seen him down so much alcohol in less a minute. Hell, she didn't even know he drank alcohol.

"And you are here to inform me about a certain uprising and revolution that will make Vale collapse on itself?"

"Yes."

"…Great." Ozpin groaned. He wasn't prepared for this kind of revelation.


	4. Chapter 4

"As I managed to gather from that recording, a group led by someone by the name of Salem along with the White Fang cause this disaster?" Ozpin says, furrowing his eye brows. The roomed darkened, leaving only a single spotlight on Ruby. This, evidently, gave her a sense of Déjà vu.

"Yes." Ruby's eyes widen as she sees Ozpin take out a plate of cookies and place it on the counter.

"How does this event play out, exactly?" Ozpin says, folding his hands neatly as Ruby begins to eye the cookies lustfully.

"Three people from Salem's faction infiltrate Beacon Academy and pose as students. They do it right under our noses as they take things apart from the inside out." Ruby says, turning towards Ozpin while her gaze flickers occasionally between the plate of cookies and himself.

"Go on."

"The three infiltrators' names are Emerald Sustrai, Mercury Black, and Cinder Fall. Cinder, being a much more prominent piece on the board. She's the one responsible for Amber's condition. Later on, she takes the rest of her powers and kills her." Ruby says, trying to imitate Ozpin by neatly folding her hands together. Her gaze _still_ continues to change between the cookies and Ozpin. He furrows his brow in frustration as he thinks to himself. How could he have possibly let this happen?

"Beforehand, Roman Torchwick stockpiled the many resources needed for the incursion to be possible. In this role, he played as the supplier, making shots at dust shops around town while making deals with the White Fang." Ruby says, thinking back to past details. "The infiltrators make their moves around the same time the Vytal Festival comes around. They hack the system and rig matches, matching up themselves with several students. It escalates as one of them uses their semblance to make a competitor mistake their opponent as attacking and made it look like they attacked out of spite after the match was over."

"Perception Manipulation." Ozpin stated. Ruby nods back in affirmation as she somehow sneaks a cookie into her mouth without Ozpin noticing.

"This fills the audience with negative emotion. The shear mass of it resonating from them causes Grimm from Mount Glenn to flock to the stadium. Meanwhile, Roman steals an Atlesian airship and Ironwood decides to try and take it back. Instead, Roman releases a digital virus which infects Ironwood's Atlesian Knights and Paladins, causing them to turn on us. Chaos ensues." She says, leaving out the names of the students. Ozpin's eyes widen at what he hears. It was ingenious, yet despicable at the same time.

"….But that's what you're here for, correct?" Ozpin says, briefly stopping to see Ruby shove several cookies into her mouth at Mach speed using her semblance. Ruby's gaze drifts from the cookies she shoved into her mouth towards Ozpin awkwardly. Ozpin remains silent with a confused look upon his face as Ruby began to chew loudly and finally gulp after a few minutes, sighing afterwards.

"Yes."

Ozpin sighs as he finally hears the answer he was waiting for.

"Then why not kill them now?" He says, prying away the plate from Ruby's hands, much to her dismay.

"About… that…" Ruby says, just realizing what had been asked. "The infiltrators arrive a few weeks in, so we can't act as of now. Nor can we strike at the enemy's base of operations."

"How so?"

"We did find bits and traces of the enemy's HQ, but not the exact location. However, we managed to find several bases belonging to the White Fang around Vale due to the help of one of their former operatives."

"Who would that be, then?" Ozpin asked.

Ruby whispered unintelligibly. Had Ozpin known that Blake was a faunus _and_ an ex-white fang operative in the past? Would her telling him about it now ruin her chances to get into Beacon? How would he react?

"What was that?" Ozpin said as placed his hand near his ear. An annoyed look loomed over his face.

"The operative's name is… Blake Belladonna." Ruby said, looking away.

"I expected so." Ozpin said as Glynda refilled his coffee mug.

Ruby's eyes widened in shock as she turned to face Ozpin.

"I knew who and what she was much before she applied for Beacon." He said casually, taking sips from his mug.

"That's… surprising." Ruby said, reclining back in her chair.

"I check the backstory of every applicant, and assess their past and current situations. Then, I use said backstory along with their application to see if they are fit to join this academy. That is how I work." Ozpin replied quaintly. He had done the same routine while checking applications through all the years he worked at Beacon and never stopped doing so. Although some may argue that his choices may not be the best, he has always seen them until the end. Suddenly, a thought passed through his mind.

"How many were killed?" He asked.

"…" Ruby's head lowered itself as she tried to remember the precise number. "About… seventy-nine thousand if you include the hunters and hunters in training killed." She said solemnly. Ozpin's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Over seventy-nine thousand? Along with _hunters_? What about the rest?"

"The rest of the population were under the rule of the White Fang's newly installed government at this point."

"They overrun Vale and take control of the government?"

"Basically."

"What of the other kingdoms, then?"

"The White Fang proposed a major international trade organization between all the nations so every resource the other nations lacked could be accessed via trade no matter what. The other kingdoms agreed because of the benefits gained and turned a blind eye to what was happening. That, however, did not stop Ironwood from sending some of his soldiers to Vale.

Ozpin's forehead scrunched up as he brought his hand up to his face. He wasn't obviously wasn't happy about what he had just heard.

"They managed to essentially bribe the other kingdoms?"

"That's just about it." Ruby says, much to Ozpin's dismay.

"So, how do we combat this, Ms. Rose?" Ozpin says as he waits for Ruby's answer.

"Simple. Kill the important pieces, and the whole attempt goes falling down. Problem is, however, it may not be a permanent solution. Salem is one tricky bastard to deal with." Ruby says, lowering her head in mild annoyance.

"This 'Salem' you are talking about. Who are they?"

"She's the one guiding Cinder and her cronies. Don't ever get near her. Ever." Ruby glared.

Ozpin's eyes narrow down at Ruby's response. After a moment of glaring back at each other, Ozpin's expression finally changes.

"I'll take your word for it." "Now, I believe we should do what we can _._ We need to make arrangements on dealing with this situation. When does this 'Cinder' arrive, exactly?"

"A few weeks in after the Beacon Initiation. What exactly are you planning?" She eyed Ozpin suspiciously.

"We will deal with her and her friends swiftly, I'll give you that." Ozpin says, standing up from his chair. He'd just figured out a problem he didn't even know he had, all thanks to her. He sighed at realizing that he had just narrowly avoided a miserable future. Not only did he get the info from someone who came from the future itself, but it was the same person he spoke to last week and was going to start enrollment _tomorrow,_ only older _._ Ozpin examined Ruby a little bit closer, looking at different angles to assess her. The young, more enthusiastic Ruby Rose seemed much different to the one he was looking at right now. Her once wide, silver eyes seemed to no longer exist as he looked closer to see the eyes of someone who's experienced a living hell. After a moment of staring back at Ozpin, Ruby stands up from her chair and begins to walk to the exit.

"Where might you be going?" Ozpin says as he notices Ruby's attempt at departure.

"There's something I'd like to ask you, Professor Ozpin." She says, not turning back.

"Yes?"

"Would it be desirable to keep me close at hand?"

"Considering that you carry information that will in fact help us, yes."

"Is it okay if I set up in the dorms, then?"

"What?" Ozpin raised an eyebrow.

"I just came from a miserable future where everything that could've possibly gone wrong, _did_. I just gave you the information to stop it. Besides, I can't go back to my home without having some complications appear." Ruby went on as she turned towards Ozpin. Ozpin gestured towards Glynda, making her go into the counter to retrieve something. Placing it in Ozpin's hand, Ozpin then walked towards a rambling Ruby who was more inclined to talk rather than to see what was in front of her.

"So, I'd appreciate it if you give at least give me _one_ damn shred of sympathy and-"

"Done. And done." Ozpin interrupted as he placed something into Ruby's outstretched hand. Ruby gazed down to see a bright blue key card in her hand. Looking up, she gave Ozpin a credulous look.

"Wha..?"

"This key card allows you access to all the facilities within Beacon Academy. Absolutely, do _not_ lose it in any way, shape, or form." Ozpin says, staring into Ruby's eyes. A moment later, he turns back and walk towards his desk once more.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, Ms. Rose, I'll be needing some time to prepare. When I need you, I expect you to be ready to answer me _immediately_." Ozpin says, stacking and organizing a sheet of papers on his desk. Ruby was dumbstruck as she stared at the key. She thought he'd be averse to her taking up space in his academy. Realizing she was just standing there, she promptly turned to face toward the door once more. She starts walking, only to stop walking once again. Turning her head, she tells Ozpin one last thing.

"Ozpin, I'd appreciate it if you'd not inform anyone of me being here."

"Very well. It would be quite problematic if someone mistakes you as your mother." Ozpin says, while staring at another pile of documents.

"It would be even more problematic if my cover was blown and they figure out who I am."

"That as well."

Ruby sighed as she traveled out of the room and down the corridor. She finally had an ally to help her. Approaching the section of the building where the dorms are, she picked the door closest to her and used the key card. As she opened it, she felt a familiar presence about the room, but decided to pay it no mind. In the room were four lockers all huddled up in the corner, along with plate glass doors and sliding patio doors opposite of the entrance. To the right of her was an entrance where she saw one bed through the opening. Walking into the room to the right, she sees four beds in the four corners. The Sleeping Area. Just a bit past, she saw the white squared floor of the bathroom. Looking at herself through the mirror, she examined herself thoroughly. She still looked the same as she was before she came here; all rugged and worn out. Tossing her cloak onto a nearby bed, she quickly undressed while turning on the showers to the left. Hot water rushed down her body, cleaning away all the dust and grime she accumulated over the past months. Ruby places her hand on the long scar that was stretching across her body. She sighs, cleaning out her hair with nearby shampoo and using conditioner afterwards. After the long needed shower, she grabbed a towel and wore it around her like a robe. Clutching her clothes, she walked out of the bathroom and realized one crucial thing she was needing: another pair of clothes. Placing her hand on her forehead, she sighed once again in disappointment. Opting to wipe away the water left over from the shower with the towel, she picked up her previously worn clothes and wore them once again. Pouncing on the bed she threw her white cloak onto, she promptly fell asleep after a few minutes of just lying there.

The night was long and cold. Ruby and the others were on top of several roofs, scouting the area for White Fang. She looked to the side to see Yang smirking lightly. . Among the others that were with her were Team CVFY along with Neptune and Sun. It had been exactly 3 weeks since Yang opted to get a mechanical replacement for her now severed arm. In the beginning, she was shaky, unable to do the simplest actions. But slowly, over the course of said 3 weeks, she managed to learn to control it. The fire had been lit inside her yet again, much to Ruby's relief. A clutter could be heard nearby as Jaune stumbled and landed into a garbage bin.

"I'm okay!" Jaune said, trying to cover his embarrassment. Ruby giggled a bit as she looked down from the roof to see Jaune sprawled out inside the garbage bin. Though Jaune was clumsy at times, he was improving over a steady rate. Eventually, he stopped doing silly mistakes such as fumbling around to get Crocea Mors out of its sheath or… tripping and falling. Mostly. It was only just recently when he tried to train himself in order to use his semblance. However, most of it ultimately was just him getting knocked back after getting punched by Yang. But the times it happened, he was left unscathed –albeit a bit scared. His semblance had no real term to it. It shielded him from attacks, but also allowed him to do what was virtually impossible. The problem was though, unless he managed to focus hard enough to use it, it would not activate.

"Shhh. Everyone keep quiet. There's something over there." Blake said, her eyes peering into the city streets. A group of 10 or so White Fang soldiers appeared from around the corner, patrolling along the streets.

"White Fang!" Ruby stated in a hush tone, loud enough for Jaune to hear it and jump out of the Garbage bin. He took shelter around it, peeking around the edge to see what the soldiers were doing.

"They're most likely scouting the perimeter for any enemies. It'll be easy to take them out." Blake said, slowly unsheathing her weapon. The others followed suit, taking out their weapons quietly. Ruby's red cloak billowed in the night's cold wind as Blake did the countdown.

"5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Go." The cat faunus counted down. Ruby fired a shot from Crescent Rose and used the momentum to speed towards one of the White Fang soldiers. She collides into him, sending him flying into a nearby pool. The other soldiers turn to face towards Ruby in surprise. They aimed their rifles at her, unflinching as they stood silent along with Ruby, who was glaring back. Their vision blurs as most of them are sent flying by the others' attacks. In an instant, the enemies had already been neutralized. Yang whoops in victory, her arms stretched towards the sky. She hadn't had this much fun in a while. Realizing something, she turned toward Blake.

"So, where's the next set of goons I get to punch?" Yang grinned widely.

"The hideout should be a few blocks from here." Blake replied sharply. They had been doing raids on White Fang hideouts for the past few weeks in hopes of finding more information on the Salem's base of operations. However, these seemed to be unsuccessful as they ended up empty handed most of the time. Blake was sick and tired of her efforts not baring any fruit. Slowly, she lost her composure, lashing out at people as she became more agitated. As they began to walk down the street, a strange droning sound could be heard getting louder and louder.

"Uh. Are you guys hearing that, or is that just me?" Jaune said, his eyes darting around the surrounding area.

The droning sound eventually turned into loud, synchronized marching accompanied with even louder footsteps as they came to a realization. An Atlesian Paladin had somehow tracked them down. Behind it, were a growing mass of White Fang soldiers turning the corner. Everyone's eyes widened as the White Fang take notice and charge. The night quickly turns into a brawl as they began to fight the seemingly infinite crowd of White Fang soldiers were easily dispatched alone by the hunters in training. However, they came to realize that in sheer numbers, victory was much farther than any of them anticipated. As more and more enemies fell, several others rushed to take their place.

Soon, familiar screams could be heard from Jaune as Ruby turns to see an Atlesian Paladin attacking an increasingly desperate Jaune. Ruby tried to rush over, only to be stopped by a wall of White Fang troops. Soon after, a massive blast repels the Paladin, knocking out several members of the White Fang with it. Jaune's eyes widen as he comes to the realization that he had just used his semblance once more. Screaming, he took another swing, causing another wave of white energy to send several enemies flying. Jaune continued to swing over and over again, in the hopes of clearing out more of them.

However, the army of White Fang had still not thinned after what seemed like an eternity. Sweat dripped down from Ruby's face as she slows down from the massive amount of fatigue she built up over the course of battle. As her eyes dart around, she sees Yang clear out more and more of them as her semblance began to kick in. Her eyes dart back to Jaune one last time, widening in fear as she sees him get overwhelmed and disappear into the crowd of white uniforms.

Ruby's eyes snap open as she wakes up on her bed. She breathed heavily as she recovered from her recent nightmare. She didn't want to remember. She didn't want to remember how Jaune died. Placing her hand on her forehead, she sits up, contemplating why everything had to go wrong. She wished it hadn't happened at all. She wished that it was all just some sick dream. But it never was.


	5. Chapter 5

Rubbing her eyes, she walked towards the sliding patio door to open it. She gazed out to see a slow sunrise, filling the skies with vibrant hues. Groggily taking her scroll out of her pocket, she sees that it was still very early in the morning. She hadn't slept that much at all, probably due to her recent nightmare about Jaune. Oum, she hated having those. She hated them so much that she always opted to drink coffee or a sugary beverage to try to keep herself awake at night.

She always had nightmares for the longest of times. When she was little, the only 'nightmare' she had that appeared regularly was always the one with her mother after she died. Those nightmares stayed with her to this very day, usually forcing out the nightmares specifically related to the deaths of her friends and other members of her family. However, this time had been different.

Throwing her cloak on the floor, Ruby yawned as she walked into the dorm hallway, her eyes still heavy. She propped herself up next to a nearby vending machine that sold many different types of drinks. Ruby looked through the selection of beverages sold, wondering what she could get.

A small tap could be felt on Ruby's shoulder, prompting her to turn around. She sees a very tall young man with shaved, short black hair and tanned skin, seemingly looming over her. The shorter woman gets nervous as the two began to stare at each other for a moment.

"..A-ahm… Did I cut in front of you?" She asks in a tiny voice. The giant stops staring for a moment, then shakes his head. Ruby suddenly feels another hand on her shoulder, much to her surprise.

"Don't worry. It's just Yatsu. He wouldn't attack someone without a good reason." Ruby hears as she turns to face a shorter girl with long, brown hair accompanied with bunny ears. Her eyes widen as she recognizes Team CFVY's Velvet Scarletina.

Ruby opens her mouth in an attempt to spew out how much she missed her, only to stop dead in her tracks as she comes back to her senses. Faking a cough, Ruby pointed towards the upper column of the vending machine, where a row of _"I Heard You Like Grapes Soda"_ sat neatly. ' _If I went on rambling to Velvet, things might get a bit awkward between us'_ , Ruby thought as Yatsuhashi pressed the button for her.

A moment later, the soda fell to the bottom of the vending machine, prompting Ruby to pick it up. A question quickly forms in her mind as she reaches down to get it.

"Shouldn't everybody be at initiation..?" She asks as she opens up her drink.

"..Initiation?" Velvet said quietly, raising an eyebrow. "Only the first years have to do that. The second and above get to go eat breakfast while that's happening. The first years get to eat beforehand so they're ready for it."

Ruby's face slightly reddened as she came to a realization that Velvet, was in fact, still a second year.

"I see…"

The three stood in awkward silence for a few minutes.

"Um… If you don't mind me asking… Who are you?" Velvet said timidly. "I don't see you around at all. You can't be a second year or above, but you can't be a first year either. They're all at the initiation." Ruby's heart stopped beating for a few seconds as she hears this. She couldn't say her own name. There was already someone else in the academy who was going to use it. Taking a deep breath, she replies slowly.

"I'm an acquaintance of Ozpin. If not, well… I'm just another huntress. I'm staying at the dorms for now, since he needs me to do something."

"Oh, so you're here to talk to Ozpin?" Velvet says, her eyes widening slightly.

"We already did. He just needs me to stay for a few more weeks until we get… _a thing_ sorted out." Ruby says, slowing down for a few seconds before speaking at a regular pace once more.

"A thing?" Velvet said, slightly tilting her head.

"Yes. A thing." Ruby replies while shifting her eyes to the left.

"Oh… Okay." Velvet replies as they both silence once more _. 'She doesn't need to know any more about that.'_ Ruby thought to herself. Suddenly, Ruby falls to the ground, spilling her soda and clutching her stomach in pain. Yatsuhashi kneels down next to her with his hand on her shoulder. Velvet's eyes widen in surprise as Ruby groans in pain.

"W-what's wrong?!" She asked in fear.

"H...h...hungry…" Ruby says, still clutching her stomach. She hadn't eaten in weeks. She had learned to ignore her hunger after the first few days, but she knew she'd eventually succumb to it sooner or later.

"Uh..! Umm! We need to get you to the dining hall, come on!" Velvet says, panicking. Yatsuhashi immediately lugs Ruby over his shoulder, nodding to Velvet. They rush down the dorms, eventually making it to the section where the dining hall was located.

Bursting through the doors, they get the attention of all the second years eating their breakfast. Coco Adel lowers her sunglasses in shock as she sees Yatsuhashi lugging someone over his shoulder as he followed Velvet into the now empty cafeteria line. Rushing over, she sees Velvet talking to one of the chefs.

"I need a huge plate of food, stat!" She says, still panicking.

"Whoa whoa whoa! What's going on?!"

"This person is starving! She might die!" She says, pointing at Ruby desperately. Coco's eyes widened as she sees a panicking Velvet pick up a massive tray of desserts as rush out of the kitchen alongside Yatsuhashi.

As they take a seat at the table where Fox is sitting, Velvet places the tray of desserts onto the counter top. Yatsuhashi puts Ruby down on a seat, shaking her gently by the shoulders. Ruby slowly opens her eyes, only for them to immediately shoot open. She sees cookies, custards, cakes, biscuits, gelatin, pastries, ice cream, puddings, and even pies.

Ruby doesn't seem to notice the drool slowly dripping down from her mouth as her eyes sparkle in delight. Instinctually, she uses her semblance to stuff her mouth with as much food as possible, to everyone's surprise.

"She's… really going at it." Coco's eyes widen in shock as she sees Ruby chew and chew, still grasping food in both of her hands. Ruby finally gulps down, sighing in delight as she gingerly takes a bite from a cookie in her left hand, only to speed up once more.

"S-so… how's the food..?" Velvet says while she looks at Ruby in daze. Ruby turns her head and begins to speak.

"Mmph mmm mmph mmph!"

Coco looks at Ruby in both annoyance and confusion as she points towards her own mouth, prompting Ruby to swallow before restating her sentence.

"It's so good! I haven't eaten in weeks! Thank you!" Ruby says, grinning widely. Velvet's cheeks turn a light pink as she hears Ruby's thanks.

"Y-you're welcome…"

"But seriously, I gotta hand it to ya. I haven't been able to get my hands on any sweets until recently. This just made my day a hell of a lot better." She says, placing her hand on Velvet's shoulder in appreciation.

"Oh. Ah… by the way… Do I have to pay for this?" She says, pointing towards the now dwindling tray of desserts. Velvet's eyes widen as she comes to a realization. The woman in front of her wasn't a member of the academy, so shouldn't that mean she had to pay for the food?

Seeing a small receipt at the right corner of the tray, Coco sighs as she sees the cost needed to cover it. Slowly, she picks it up with two fingers and shows it to Ruby in disgust.

"You're going to have to pay for that." Coco says in frustration. Ruby stared at the receipt, then blinked twice with no reaction. She, evidently, wasn't shocked at all.

"That's it?" Ruby says, raising an eyebrow.

"What do you mean, that's it?" Coco says in confusion. "You've just spent over 500 Lien on desserts!"

Slowly, Ruby reached back to grab something from. Velvet protested in a panic as she sees Ruby take out her wallet.

"N-no… You don't have to…" Her voice trails on.

"Here you go. Keep the change." Ruby says nonchalantly as she hands Coco a large pack of Lien. She lowers her sunglasses in shock as she sees the amount of Lien placed in her hand. It had to be around 600 Lien at that point, maybe even more.

"That might make a dent in my wallet, but hey, I could always just take a few more jobs." Ruby says, putting her wallet back in place as she stood up from the table. It was true. The jobs that hunters usually do pay for quite a lot depending on what kind of mission it was.

"Thanks." She said, smiling back as she slowly strolled out of the lunchroom as everyone stared at her.

Ruby's thoughts wandered back to what had just happened. It was a change of pace that Ruby had always wanted back then. Everyone relaxing as they ate their food, completely unburdened by any catastrophes. They might've only been burdened by the new semester they had to endure this next time around.

Her thoughts then drifted towards Team CFVY. As a team, they all endured the hell waiting for them in future, albeit slightly shaken. As the years went on by, they stuck together, helping out the cause against Salem's faction. Then, slowly, they began to get picked off one by one secretly as they lowered their guard. At least, that's what the report said.

Ruby shuddered as she imagined them losing each other one by one, until they had finally all been picked off. She had to prevent this, no matter what would happen to herself.

As she strolled through the school towards the section where the dorms were located, something catches her eye. Taking a look through the doorway, she sees a big, winding room filled with desks surrounding a giant, dark green chalkboard.

Her eyes slowly narrowed down as she tried to remember what it was used for. She had vague memories of her and her team sitting next to each other, watching a professor talk on and on about whatever subject she was taking at the time.

What was the professor's name again? It was something very obscure, but not something that she could easily forget. Her thoughts drifted to a professor with wild, crazy green hair and a hyperactive demeanor. 'That would've been him.' she thought, smiling at all the old memories.

"Excuse me miss! You seem to have been gazing at the lecture hall for approximately 10 minutes now!"

"Wha-"

Ruby turns around to see a man with a very disheveled attire. A white shirt was partially tucked in to his dark green pants, with its collar raised. Around it was a messy and lazily put on tie. His eyes couldn't be seen behind his opaque, round glasses.

"Apologies! I am Bartholomew Oobleck, a professor currently working at Beacon Academy! I teach students all they need to know through my lectures at this exact hall! Could you be a new student?" He says quickly.

"I'm... uh..."

'If so, you appear to have missed the initiation! Please contact Professor Ozpin as soon as possible!" Oobleck butts in, not stopping.

"N-no! I was just heading back to my dorm!" Ruby says quickly as she closes her eyes, trying to match Oobleck's speed.

As she opens her eyes once more, she sees Oobleck taking a long sip from a cup of what appeared to be coffee. Evidently, she expected this. Oobleck was always downing coffee by the dozen, that quite possibly being the reason for his hyperactivity during lectures.

As Oobleck peered down into his cup, he raised his eyes to meet Ruby once more.

"Anyways! Go do what you need to do! Class starts in approximately one hour and seven seconds and counting down! I need to get the material ready!" He says, turning into a blur as he sped into the lecture hall.

Ruby's eyes left widened from the encounter, she slowly trudged towards her dorm room. The professor's hyperactivity had made the hyperactivity gained from all the desserts seem much less in comparison.

As she twisted the doorknob open, she remembers that she left her cloak sprawled out on the hardwood flooring. She picks it up, staring into it as she clutched it with her hand. It had always reminded her of her own mother, of how she wore a white cloak similar to Ruby's old red one.

The rays of sunlight beamed through the sliding glass door as she began to stand there, white cloak in hand, contemplating about what she had done ever since her decision to emulate her mother. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, mind you. She thought of it as a way to remember her mother by, perhaps there was something more besides that. She had only began wearing it the year prior. Most of her friends and family were dead at that point, leaving only a few to comment about it.

Suddenly, Ruby notices the doorknob twisting and turning. It was quite obvious the person on the other side of the door was clumsily fumbling around with it. Instinctually, she bit on her white cloak, holding it in her mouth as she pulled out her Crescent Rose. Shifting it into gun form, she pulled back the pin to eject a round for good measure.

Now that she was more awake, her old habits resurfaced. Ruby was sensitive to even the slightest of sounds, even to the point of her being paranoid of what it was as her imagination took control. Perhaps it was due to her past experiences, where sneak attacks were inevitable at any time. Hell, even some of her friends died to sneak attacks.

Slowly, the door shifted open. On the other side was a young girl with silver, white hair in the shape of a ponytail. She had on a white bolero with a red inside over a similarly white dress. On her face, a long, crooked scar rested on her ice blue eyes. They widened as the girl notices Ruby aiming her weapon at her.

"I… Uh… Did I open up the wrong room?"

Ruby raises an eyebrow as she opens her mouth to answer, only to see the girl get knocked to the side by a familiar blonde beauty. She takes a step forward, her eyes closed as she stretches her arms out enthusiastically.

"What's happening on… in…. here…?" Yang's voice trails off as she sees the older Ruby stand there, aiming their weapon at her.

Blake jumps out from behind Yang with her weapon drawn in gun form. Ruby immediately aims towards Blake's direction as their eyes locked. A moment of silence goes by, interrupted by the sound of Ruby yelling.

"Guys, wait! Don't leave meee!" They hear as the younger Ruby rushes through the door, only to stop dead in her tracks. The older Ruby, along with Blake, turn to gaze towards Ruby, their weapons still aimed at each other. The silence ensues as all five of them glance towards each other in confusion.

"Ahem…" The older Ruby says, trying to break the silence. "What are you guys doing in my dorm room…?"

" _Your_ dorm room? For your information, this is _our_ dorm room!" Blake snaps back.

"Oh, excuse me?! I know I chose this room before you guys did!" The older Ruby glared back.

"The headmaster gave us permission to use this room!" Weiss says, butting into the conversation.

This was, obviously, a very bad position to be in. Not only did Ruby fail to remember that she, did indeed, was in the very same room Team RWBY used when she was in Beacon, but she also didn't realize it when she chose to stay in it.

Ruby sighed as she lowered her weapon in defeat. It was her own fault that she didn't remember. She thought that something so familiar like this room couldn't have been easily forgotten. Although, it wasn't so familiar when it wasn't decorated.

"Yang, is that…?!" Ruby blurts out, as she comes to her senses. "Mom?!"

Yang eyes dart back and forth between the two. She stares at the older Ruby with a sorry grin as she sees what's happening.

"MOOOOM!"

Suddenly, Ruby dashes towards her older self using her semblance at frightening speeds. Her older self takes a step to the left, catching Ruby with her cloak, obscuring her younger self's view. The older Ruby begins to run past a surprised Yang as she books it out of there, her younger self still trying to get herself out from under the cloak.

This was a big problem, indeed. Not only did her old team find her, her younger self was now going to try and track her down now. _'I need to find a place where she won't find me, then speak to Ozpin about how he still put my past team in the very same dorm.'_ She thinks as she dashes down the corridors. He certainly wasn't going to enjoy the fact that her younger self saw her. Not only was he not going to enjoy it, she wasn't going to enjoy having to deal with her past self, either.

"Mom, wait! I need to talk to you!"

The older Ruby's eyes widen as she sees her past self trailing right behind her, their hand outstretched in desperation.

Activating her semblance, she quickly gains speed over the younger Ruby, prompting her past self to activate her own. The chase ensues over the whole school. They knock over passing students, teachers, and even that one teacher who doesn't seem to show herself often around the academy.

But slowly, the older Ruby becomes serious as she sees her younger self not letting up. In an instant, she stops her momentum, letting the young girl zoom past her. The resulting wind from the younger Ruby's momentum blows strands of their hair forward accompanied with the sides of her combat skirt. Instantly, she disappears, leaving only a massive gust of wind in her wake as she leaves the younger Ruby backtracking to the point where she lost sight of what she presumed to be her mother.

Juke successful.

* * *

 **As of the past week, recent reviews have failed to show up in the reviews section. Apologies if you asked a question and have not received answers as of yet. -Yui**


	6. Chapter 6

It wasn't that Ruby disliked her past self, it was more like she couldn't afford to alter her past self's memories more than she already had, although… she hadn't seen any consequences as of yet. Had she? All these random theories passed through her head as she began to indulge in the consequences of interacting with her past self.

Perhaps she'd disappear entirely as soon as she stopped the horrible, horrible events that would happen in the future. She'd like to stay here. Ruby already seemed to be enjoying herself here. She'd rather uphold the peace _and_ stay there rather than disappear afterwards.

She burst through the main office doors, albeit with not as much grace as she intended. Glynda looked up from her desk to see the older Ruby with a distressed look upon her face. Her eyes widened as she thought of all the possibilities that could've happened — but then she stopped herself, trying to come up with a logical answer.

"Glynda, I need to get to Ozpin right NOW." Ruby says dashing up to the counter in haste.

"What happened? What's wrong?" Glynda said as she stood up from her desk.

"Ozpin. NOW." Ruby glared back in annoyance. Suddenly, the doors to Ozpin's office opened as he walked out to check the commotion. His eyes widened as he sees a disheveled Ruby with widened eyes.

"Did something happen? Could it be..?" He says walking up to Ruby.

"We need to talk in private. Make sure nobody else besides us three are hearing what I'm going to say." Ruby says as she peers behind her, paranoid of a hyperactive teenage girl looking for what they presumed to be their mother.

Quickly, all three of them made their way to Ozpin's office. As the last of them stepped in, Glynda looked back to make sure the cost was clear, then enhanced the door with dust to lock it with her riding crop. This way, it could take much more force than it would've without being enhanced by dust.

They gathered around Ozpin's desk anxiously as they motioned Ruby to bring what they presumed to be bad news.

"Okay. Okay…I made a big mistake." Ruby says, her eyes still widened in paranoia.

"What is it? Has the enemy begun to attack early?" Ozpin says, motioning Ruby to tell him more.

"No, no, no! It's not any of that. It's something far worse!" Ruby says, motioning something with a larger scale with her arms.

"What is it?!" Ozpin says, his eyes widened in shock.

"I… I…" Ruby says, looking down in desperation.

"Yes..? Yes? Spit it out!" Ozpin said, coming closer.

"My past team saw me, then my past self tried to jump at me, then I had to run away because I didn't want her to ask any questions, then she followed me, then I had to use my semblance, then SHE used her semblance, then… then… She's looking for me because I look like my mom!" She spills it in guilt.

The three stand in silence for a moment before Ozpin places his hand on his forehead in disappointment.

"I thought you knew how to avoid that." He says, glaring at Ruby in disgust.

"Color me disappointed." Glynda says as she crosses her arms.

"Well… part of the problem was _your_ fault, too you know." Ruby retorted.

"What do you mean by that?" Ozpin says, lowering his hand from his face.

"You assigned my past team into the same room I was staying at!" She glared.

"I… what? Give me moment." Ozpin said as his eyes widened slightly. He pulled out a scroll from under his counter and checked the dorm assignments. The headmaster sighed as realized where he had placed Team RWBY in.

"I don't recall doing such a thing." Ozpin said, eyeing the student assignments in annoyance.

"Then who did?" Ruby said, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"….." Ozpin sat there in silence as Ruby glared.

"…Either way, you're going to have to make something work out between you and…. You." He says, brushing the question aside.

"…how?"

"Excuse me?"

"How am I supposed to do that?" Ruby says, extending her arms out towards Ozpin in disbelief.

Ozpin stays silent for a moment as he thinks on Ruby's question.

"Well, I'm sure you'll figure something out." He says, going back to his work.

"Waitwaitwaitwait!" Ruby blurts out. "You can't just leave me out like this!"

"You're an accomplished huntress who's dealt with things much greater than herself almost every day. I'm sure you can sort out a problem such as this." Ozpin says, waving Ruby off.

"But…!" Her eyes widen in shock.

"There will be no excuses, Ms. Rose. I'm sure that you yourself are well aware of that. However, since you can no longer go back into that room without being seen, I'll check up on any empty rooms in the dorm while I deal with the new semester and the upcoming 'problem'."

"I… alright. Fine." Ruby says sourly.

She wasn't expecting Ozpin to be so frugal. How could he leave her like this? What could she do in a situation like this? She's never dealt with something like it before, so how? I mean, it's not like she can just trick her past self. She'd be insulting herself if she did.

Ruby walks away from the counter, deep in thought. As she reaches for the door, she twists the knob, 'pulls' — then seemingly goes face first into the door.

"Ow! What the..?" Ruby says as she tries to twist the door knob to no avail.

"Oh, right. Glynda." Ozpin beckons towards Glynda as he continued stare at a few more documents.

With a flick of Glynda's whip, the door glows slightly before returning back to normal. Ruby is relieved to see that when she twisted the door knob once more, it actually turned.

Taking a step out into the main office, she sighs deeply as she finds her train of thought once more. What was she to do? She was knee deep in a problem that shouldn't have existed in the first place. Who'd knew that she'd be sent back in time and had to deal with this instead?

As she took a step out into the hallway, Ruby is pulled to the side in surprise. Her eyes focus on Yang, her sister, with both of her hands on Ruby's shoulders.

"Mom. We need to talk." Yang says in a serious tone.

"…About what..?" Ruby says, beginning to sweat from Yang's intense stare.

"Why didn't you tell me that you met Ruby earlier before we last met?! Why'd you run away from her?! Why are you trying to avoid her?!" Yang questioned nonstop.

"W-well… You see…" Ruby averted her gaze. Suddenly, a brilliant idea came to mind. "…Is that a student hijacking a yellow motorcycle?"

"Yellow… motorcycle…" Yang says, narrowing her eyes in thought.

"Bumblebee?!" She says as she immediately turned around to see if her beloved motorcycle was being taken away. She sighs deeply in annoyance as she realized that she did not bring Bumblebee to Beacon yet.

"Not cool, Mom…" Yang's eyes widen as she realizes that Ruby was not there anymore. "Mom?"

Around the corner, Ruby sighs gladly as she slowly slid down the wall to the floor. She almost got into yet another bad situation. ' _Good thinking, me._ ' She smirked in satisfaction as she walked down the hallway in a brisk pace. Ruby absolutely had to figure out a list of priorities.

First thing's first: She had to figure out a way avoid her past self for as long as possible, then…

 _Her cloak._ Her eyes widen as she realized what was missing. She left her cloak back at the dorm in order to escape from her recent encounter. Ruby sighed deeply as she placed her hand on her forehead, still walking.

Slowly, she picked up the pace as her heartbeat began to speed up more and more. She _needed_ that cloak. Although it had only been with her since the past year, she had already grown fond of it. It had become her favorite. Well, it _was_ second place to her now tattered red cloak, but that was beside the point. It was the only cloak Ruby had brought to the past.

Her breathing became heavy as she experienced something akin to late withdrawal symptoms. Ruby's silver eyes flickered around the hallway as she came to a fast jog.

She remembered all the past memories she had with it as she wore it almost every day. Ruby had taken care of it along with crescent for the past year, cleaning it and making sure there wasn't a single speck of dirt on it. Hell, she even made precautions not to get any on it in the first place.

"OUM DAMN IT!" Ruby screamed angrily as she activated her semblance, dashing through the academy at Mach speed until shortly she came crashing through to the section of the building where the dorms were located. Suddenly, she came to a screeching halt as she came back to her senses. She couldn't just rush in there, that'd be ridiculous.

Taking a deep breath, she thought of ways to solve the problem by using something… less direct.

Perhaps she could wait until it was late at night? Then, she could grab it while everyone was sleeping in bed. Checking her scroll, Ruby sees that it wouldn't be too long of a wait. She grinned slightly as she reassured herself that she'd get it back before tomorrow morning.

As Ruby walked towards a nearby vending machine, she took another look at the wide selection of beverages available. Again. She spilled her last drink earlier, so nothing was really keeping her awake except instinct. None of the drinks that were available at the time stuck out to her. Ruby continued to stare, resting her chin on her hand as she thought about the beverages in front of her.

" _I Heard You Like Grapes Soda'_ was just a cheaper, yet much blander alternative to _'People Like Grapes Soda'_. The other variations of _'People like … Soda'_ didn't appeal to her as much either. There wasn't even a strawberry flavored version in the vending machine. How else was she going to stay awake?

As Ruby's mind wandered to and fro, a small question surfaced. _"Where does Ozpin get his coffee?"_ Indeed, this was quite puzzling to her. Where does he get it? There aren't any vending machines that sell coffee in the school.

At least, she didn't think there were. It was kind of hard to remember considering she didn't get drinks from Beacon's vending machines often. Perhaps there was a coffee machine stored inside his counter? Lucky bastard must've kept it all to himself….

 _Tap._

"Mm… yes?" Ruby said absent mindedly as she turned around. Her eyes widened as she saw a very, very, _very_ familiar blonde haired man looking at her questioningly.

"Hey… uh, I don't mean to be rude but, are you going to get a drink or just stand there?" Jaune said awkwardly.

"I thought you were dead!" Ruby blurted out, immediately covering her mouth in panic.

"Yeah, yeah… I think that sometimes too. Wait… what?" Jaune says in confusion.

"Nothing!" Ruby said while avoiding eye contact.

"Okay…?" Jaune said in annoyance. He narrowed his eyes at Ruby for a few seconds, noticing something.

"Are you another one of Ruby's sisters… or?" He asked.

"Who?" Ruby said, trying to pretend that she had no idea about who he was talking about.

"She looks just like you, has a red cloak — A bit dorky at times… Actually, you know what? Never mind." He said awkwardly.

"Well okay…" Ruby said, averting her gaze.

"Gotta go!" She said, using her semblance to dash away in haste.

She placed her hand on her forehead as she sighed in annoyance. Out of all the people she could've messed up talking to, she slipped up on _Jaune._ Well — now that she thought about it — it wasn't _that_ bad _._ Massaging her temples, she trudged forward impatiently as she counted down towards midnight. Occasionally, Ruby pulled out her scroll to check the time.

The dorm darkened considerably as the moon rose into the sky. Ruby yawned as she propped herself up against a wall, wearily looking to the other two ends of the hallway. _'Just a little longer.'_ She thought to herself as she stared vacantly at the floor.

She'd done this plenty of times before. Propping herself up against a wall, she could wait absentmindedly until the night passed or it was time to do something. During which, she could be wide awake for any sleep attacks from any people with less than desirable antics. Maybe she cou…

Slowly, Ruby's eyes closed on themselves. As her consciousness began to fade more and more, she slid down the side of the wall. Immediately, her eyes smashed open in realization. Shaking her head vigorously in an effort to wake up, she propped herself up against the wall once more. Suddenly, a 'brilliant' idea came to mind.

Choosing to be active in order to stay up, she stopped propping herself up against the wall and began to pace back and forth. That way, she could keep moving — albeit slowly — in order to keep herself in check. But as the minutes went on by, Ruby walked slower and slower, eventually slowing down to a snail's pace.

' _Nononono. Stay awake. Stay awake! Stay…'_ She had collapsed face first onto the floor, falling asleep as she rested the side of her head on the ground.

Ruby groaned as she was nudged around by someone trying to wake her up. Slowly, she opened her eyes slightly to see a deathly scared Velvet looking at her, along with the rest of Team CFVY. Yatsuhashi was knelt down beside her, still nudging her around anxiously.

"Is she okay?!" She panicked as she looked to her teammates for answers.

Ruby's eyes groggily opened further as she slowly came up to a sitting position, rubbing her eyes and yawning loudly.

"W…wuh… What happened?" She said as she stared up towards Velvet sleepily.

"We found you unconscious on the floor." Coco replied, immediately getting Ruby's attention.

"Oh. I must've fallen asleep…" Ruby said, her eyes slowly closing as she drifted closer and closer to sleep.

"Hey, wake up! It's already morning!" Coco said as grabbed Ruby by the shoulders and shook her around violently, much to Velvet's horror.

"That's — not — helping — please — stop!" Ruby said dizzily as Coco kept shaking her back and forth.

After a moment or two, Coco finally stopped shaking Ruby around ruthlessly.

"…What time is it?" Ruby said as she tried desperately to make her head stop spinning.

"It's about half past eight." Coco replied.

"Half past... eight…" Ruby said to herself. That was around the time Team RWBY should be in their dorm room, readying themselves for their first class at Beacon Academy. As she thought on, she realized something very important – This was her second chance. If she could sneak in after her team leaves, she could grab her cloak and get out of there without being seen.

"…..Yes. It's half past eight. Here's an idea — how about _you_ get ready for _your_ classes and stop trying to fall asleep!" Coco says, completely unaware that Ruby was, in fact, not student at Beacon. She angrily grabs Ruby by the back of her blouse and begins to drag her along the floor, causing Velvet to speak up.

"W-wait! She's not a student!" The bunny eared faunus said desperately.

"..What?" Coco says, stopping in her tracks as she turned to look at her comrade.

"Sh-she's currently staying here because the headmaster wanted to speak with her!"

"…Oh." Coco says as she loosened her grip on Ruby, making her fall face first on the floor.

"…Ow." Ruby groaned in annoyance as Yatsuhashi walked over to help her up. As she stood back up, a thought came back to her.

"I need to ask you guys something." Ruby said, dusting herself off.

"Yes?" Velvet said, stepping in.

"….Are there any coffee machines in this academy?"

"..Coffee?" Velvet said as she looked as Ruby in confusion. "Not that I know of... No."

"Damn it, Ozpin." Ruby cursed out loud. "Well… you guys should go get to your classes. I need to do a few things." Ruby said, waving Team CFVY off once more only to bump into Yatsuhashi.

"Uh?" Ruby said as she narrowed her eyes in confusion.

"You need to take care of yourself more. It's not good to be waking up on the floor and be starving the death." Velvet said slowly, placing her hand on Ruby's shoulder. Ruby's eyes widened as she sees a genuine look of concern on her face.

' _Maybe I should stop making them worry so much.'_ Ruby thought as she smiled back at Velvet. "Don't worry." She said, placing her hand on Velvet's shoulder in assurance. Shortly after, Ruby waved Team CFVY before she moved silently through the hallways avoiding the now panicking Team RWBY and Team JNPR rushing to class.

She took her to scroll to check the time: 9:02. She smirked as she took out the keycard Ozpin gave her and used it on the door. Twisting the doorknob, her eyes widened to see the dorm now remodeled by Team RWBY. She smiled slightly as she walked in, shutting the door behind her.

Her eyes dart around the room, looking for her cloak as she reminisced past memories. She walked into the sleeping area to find only a messy pair of impromptu bunkbeds. Tiny bits of fear began to surface as she darted around the sleeping area and the room before it again. Finally, she dashed into the bathroom in desperation.

 _Nothing._

* * *

 **Revising this took a bit longer than I expected.**


	7. Chapter 7

Ruby frantically searched throughout the dorm room in haste. She checked drawers, threw off blankets, peeked under the two bunk beds, and overturned everything there was to be overturned. The woman groaned nervously as she took a full view of the now messy dorm room, her eyes hastily scanning.

Her cloak was nowhere to be found.

She cursed as she ran out of the door, looking from side to side anxiously. It couldn't be possible. Could it? If she was, in fact, right — her past self had taken it to class. A vision of a young Ruby Rose clutching a balled up white cloak in her arm as she raced a class surfaced in the older Ruby's mind. Her eyes widened as the thought passed by, bewildering her to no end.

She'd have to try and pry it from her past self if she were to get it back. The thought was not a pleasant one. Ruby's team would've joined in, adding even more consequences to her cloak's rescue.

Nervously, she took out her scroll and went to the list of contacts. The list was, in fact, full to the brim of past colleagues, family, and just about anyone she would have needed to contact. Hastily, she scrolled to Ozpin's number. The scroll progressed to the 'sending call' screen, the little tune playing as she waited.

"…Yes?" A familiar voice echoes out from the small device.

"Ozpin, it's me." Ruby replied quickly.

"…" The scroll went quiet for a moment, causing Ruby to narrow her eyes in annoyance.

"Hello?" She said sternly, waiting for a reply.

"…How in Remnant did you get my number?" Ozpin says in a confused tone.

"Already had it. Now — I need you to do something for me." Ruby said in a hasty tone.

"What is it?" Ozpin said attentively.

"I'd like you to invite my younger self into your office and trick her into giving a certain… _object_ to you." Ruby said, slowing down at the end of the sentence.

" _Object?_ " Ozpin said in confusion.

"Yes. An object." She replied, not going into detail.

"I'm going to need more information than that, Ms. Rose." The headmaster replied in an annoyed tone.

"Alright." Ruby sighed in embarrassment as she finally went into detail. "I'd like you to trick my younger self into giving you my cloak so I can get it back."

"You lost your cloak to your past self? How does that even happen to a _huntress_?" Ozpin replies in doubt.

"I, uh, kind of used it to escape during my last… encounter." She replied, her face slightly covered in guilt.

"…I see." Ozpin said, agony obviously present in his voice. "Well, I'm afraid I cannot help with that as of now."

"Why not?!" Ruby snaps, angry at how Ozpin had been acting recently.

"Well — you see, there is a… _dusty old crow_ who keeps pecking at my window after I gave him a worm or two a few days ago."

"…Oh." Ruby says, her heart stopping at the thought of her Uncle Qrow coming to beacon. She didn't want to see him right now. Hell, she didn't want to see any of her mother's past teammates.

"Well, it's obviously going to be quite a troubling matter for both of us. I myself would rather not deal with this at the start of a new year at this academy. However, it _cannot_ be avoided." Ozpin says in a regretful tone. Ruby's eyes widened as she realized what had been causing Ozpin to be so annoyed with her. He has to deal with the people working with him on the problem because of her.

"I see. I'll… deal with it myself." Ruby said slowly as Ozpin hung up. She couldn't avoid having to do more 'interactions' with past self even if she tried, could she? She sighed in agony as she walked down the hallway again.

As she slowly drew up to the lecture hall, Ruby could hear a loud, rambling voice echoing from the doorway.

"…our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces. And that's where you come in. Huntsmen. Huntresses." Peter Port says as he clicks his teeth at Team RWBY, much to Yang's discomfort.

"Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves. From what you ask? Why, the very world!" The professor says, doing hand motions as he paces around, only to illicit a weak reaction from his audience.

Ruby's eyes dart around the classroom, not paying attention to the one student who piped up after the professor's last sentence. Finally, her eyes stopped on four familiar students — all of which bared a striking resemblance to the team she was looking for. She ended up in her thoughts again as Professor Port began to ramble on and on about his questionable story.

How would she go about this, then? Would she wait until the class was over? Of course, that would be a good idea. It would be favorable for Ruby to _not_ cause a scene and interrupt class in an attempt to reclaim her stolen cloak.

Her ears pick up back on Professor Port's so called 'lecture' again.

"The morale of the story:

A true huntsmen must be honorable.

A true huntsmen must be dependable.

A true huntsmen must be strategic, well educated, and wise!"

Ruby's eyes drift down to her past self clowning around in class, sitting right next to a neatly folded white cloak. Her eyes drift slightly to the right, only to see an angry Weiss eyeing Ruby in anger. The woman giggles quietly as she sees the look on the girl's face.

"So! Who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?" The professor goes on, jumping slightly as he talked.

Suddenly, his eyes catch something in the doorway to the lecture hall. His eyebrows slowly go upward as he sees a woman peeking around, her appearance slightly obscured. He clears his throat, ignoring Weiss' now raised hand.

"…And who would you be, peeking into the lecture hall like that?" The professor says loudly, now shocking the older Ruby. The class turns around to see a figure peering into the lecture hall awkwardly.

" _Oh shit._ " She mouths as she slightly retracts out of view. She, evidently, wasn't that great at sneaking anymore. Blake had taught her many things when she was still around, sneaking being one of them. However, she no longer had that certain 'touch' to it anymore.

"Now, now. Show yourself before things get a little bit personal. Hoh hoh!" The professor exclaimed loudly.

Ruby sighed loudly as she stepped into view. Peter Port's eyebrows shot up in an instant as he was almost speechless. Ruby and Yang's eyes widened considerably as they saw what they thought was their mother walking down the aisle. Suddenly, an idiotic, but slightly hopeful idea comes to mind. The woman smirks slightly as a what appeared to be a small gleam in her eyes takes place.

"Might've been already been a bit too late for that, Peter!" Ruby said as she put a on a convincing fake smile, extending her arms outward in faux bravado. The one thing that she never thought she could use after learning it from Jaune — how to play along with whatever's happening. His eyebrows shoot upwards once more as he hears the older Ruby's voice. A cheeky thought came to his mind as the older Ruby finally stepped up.

"Change of plans, my students! Let me show you a great huntress in action, observe closely!" He exclaimed, bowing dramatically towards the slightly surprised Ruby Rose.

The younger Ruby's mouth hung agape as she her eyes drift from her mother to an angrily rattling cage, red eyes peering out from the opening. She was going to see her mother in action! The thought excited her to no end as she clutched the white cloak with her hype thrusters on overdrive. Yang looks over to her younger sister and sees the look on Ruby's face. She smiles as she herself faces towards the professor and her 'mother'.

It was the exact opposite on the older Ruby's side, though. She was practically sweating in her combat boots from the nervous tension balling up inside of her. It was either sink or swim at this point — and she'd rather choose the latter.

The cage opened, revealing a charging boarbatusk. Nonchalantly, the huntress took a step to the left, easily evading the Grimm's attack. She was used to hunting grim at this point, albeit slightly less than hunting people. Boarbatusks may charge fast, but overall they're quite predictable when you apply past experience to them.

Instinctively, Ruby pawed the air behind her, only to stop as her finger grazed Crescent Rose. A small thought: What if her using her weapon would be an inconsistency to the professor? Judging from his reaction, he knew her mother quite well. But if that was the case, why didn't Oobleck recognize her? Maybe he did and decided to pay it no heed. Using Crescent Rose could blow her cover almost instantly if she couldn't cover it up as well.

She elegantly dodged the boarbatusk as it charged again and again, adding small bits of suspense to the audience as the Grimm began to get angrier and louder. During this, the professor made admiring remarks towards the huntress' form and dodges.

Dodging the furious Grimm once more, she cleared her throat. She was nervous, yes — but she couldn't afford to botch up something simple like this in front of the entire team. Not that she could mess up fighting a simple Grimm, mind you.

"It's about time to end this, isn't it professor?" The woman said, putting on another convincing smile as she dodged the boarbatusk once more. The professor grinned in joy as he heard Ruby's words. Looking to the side, his smile brightened even more to see his students on the edge of their seats.

Cracking her knuckles loudly, Ruby turned to the boarbatusk once more. Yang's eyes flew open as she sees her mother stop evading the Boarbatusk. Finally at his limit, the boarbatusk begins to spin wildly in one place. The woman only smirks as she seemingly lowers her guard and stands completely still in the line of attack. Peter Port raises an eyebrow as he sees what he thought was one of his colleagues just stand there instead of making preparations.

The boarbatusk finally spins forward quickly, only to be flung back in at instant as the Grimm finally got close, embedding itself into the wall. In one swift motion, the huntress had punched at the speed of light. The shock wave following suite cracked the floor around her as the boarbatusk was then flung back, much to everyone's surprise. The hall remained silent in awe and surprise as the older Ruby began waving her slightly limp hand around, apparently feeling the after effects of punching the Grimm.

Suddenly, the class erupted in cheer and amazement as Ruby gave a thumbs up accompanied with a genuine smile. It was a nice reward after devising a scheme that could have backfired immediately. The professor started clapping in satisfaction as he walked up to the older Ruby.

"Bravo! Bravo!" He said, offering a handshake. Ruby happily obliged giving Peter a strong handshake in response. As she turns to face the crowd to bow, she catches her past self looking in awe. Slowly, she walks up to her, much to her younger self's surprise.

"Mom! I… uh…" Ruby said, fumbling around with her words awkwardly.

"You were awesome!" Yang interjected loudly as she ran over to bear hug her mother, only to be side stepped.

"Thank you, Yang." The huntress said, smiling back. She feels a tapping on her shoulder, to see her younger self holding out a neatly folded white cloak towards her. The younger Ruby's eyes were closed as she said, "H-here. This is yours." The woman's eyes widened as she sees her past self actually handing her cloak back to her. As she slowly took the cloak away from her, she ruffled the smaller Ruby's hair a bit in appreciation.

She could get use to this. Ruby had finally done it, she got her cloak back _and_ possibly might've found an answer to the problem that was right in front of her.

As the huntress began to put on and adjust her cloak, the Grimm embedded into the wall had not disintegrated as of yet. Slowly, it began to rustle about until it finally pried itself off of the wall and back onto its feet. It squealed even louder than before, much to everyone's surprise as they turned around to face it. However, the huntress was too busy to notice the Grimm beginning to spin over and over again in place, aiming itself at her direction.

"Mom, watch out!" Ruby said, realizing this.

"Huh?" The older Ruby said in surprise as she snapped back into reality. The Grimm had already began to speed towards her in twice the speed it did the last time. As the Grimm almost made contact with Ruby, it immediately burst into an explosion of Grimm ichor, splattering the walls black. In an instant, Ruby changed from looking forward towards the class with a surprised look, into one where her back was turned and a long, black scythe was held within her hands.

The crowd remained silent once more, not sure what to think.

"I didn't expect _that_ to happen." The huntress said, looking down in thought. Surely that punch would've obliterated the Grimm's insides immediately. Hell, she did it to boarbatusks of similar degree and they disintegrated immediately after getting embedded into something.

Her eyes widen considerably as she burst out of her train of thought. Looking down, she is horrified to see that Crescent Rose was, in fact, unsheathed. She realized that she must've instinctively used to cleave through the Grimm at Mach speed. She swore as she hurriedly sheathed it and placed it back onto her back.

She turned back to see the students in awe, then to the professor. He had the biggest look of confusion on his face that she had ever seen. In fact, it was the most confusing thing he had ever seen in all of his life. Summer Rose, wielding a _scythe_? One of the most dangerous weapons in the world? When did she start doing this? It was only Qrow who wielded the scythe in Team STRQ, not Summer! Utterly preposterous!

Seeing the distraught look in the professor's eyes, she decided that it was the perfect time to walk out. She waved farewell to Team RWBY as she left the room with their ties slightly better than what she had hoped for. Immediately, she dashed through the hallway at Mach speed in an attempt to avoid further interaction with the professor.

Everything sped past her as she kept running throughout the school. However, as she tried to continue her train of thought, she ran smack dab into someone, causing them to tumble around with her. As her eyes began to focus, she sees a man with opaque glasses. Professor Oobleck. Ruby's eyes widened as she realized her mistake, jumping off of him immediately.

The professor lay there quietly, not a single word escaping from his mouth. One of Ruby's eyebrows raised as the professor continued to lay there.

In an instant, the professor sprang back up onto his feet, checking the time for a moment before looking at a surprised Ruby.

"I suggest you keep an eye on where you are going!" He said in a rapid fashion.

"S-sorry about that, Oobleck!" Ruby apologized while bowing. Silence ensued after she apologized, much to her confusion. She looked up to see Oobleck staring down at her, his mouth slightly open as he was lost in thought.

"…Oobleck?"

No response.

"…Doctor Oobleck?"

Still no response. Perhaps a more personal name would do — the one that Professor Port used to call him.

"Barty?"

"Ms. Cloak!" In an instant, the professor pointed at her. Ruby's eyes widened even more from shock.

"What was the name of a certain team that graced Beacon Academy years ago?!"

Ruby blinked in confusion. Why was he questioning her?

"Team… STRQ?" Ruby said slowly.

"Correct! Now, what did Team STRQ consist of?!" He said, pointing dramatically. Ruby wasn't sure what to think of at this point. So, deciding to play along, she answered.

"Taiyang, Qrow, Raven, and their leader... me. Summer Rose." She recited monotonously. Oobleck went back into his thought for a moment or two after mumbling to himself, before looking back up at the huntress once more.

"Of course not. Who — are you?" He said, giving a stern look. Ruby's eyes widened once more in shock as she came to the realization that the professor _might_ have just figured it out.

 _Oh shit._


	8. Chapter 8

"H-hmm… what are you talking about, Oobleck?" The huntress said nervously.

"During my years I spent here in order to become a hunter, it is natural to know your past friends like the back of your hand. Unfortunately for you, you do not seem like the back of my hand." Oobleck replied quaintly.

"So, let me ask you again. Who are you?"

"Don't b-be sil-"

"WHO ARE YOU?" He said loudly.

Ruby, evidently, had just been cornered. She didn't know how to continue through this without digging herself deeper into trouble. She gulped as Oobleck waited impatiently for an answer. She couldn't lie to someone like _him._ The huntress would be caught instantly. So, she decided to tell a few 'truths'.

"I'm a huntress. Nothing else." Ruby said as she tried to build up the confidence to get through this next predicament.

"That so?" Oobleck said, slightly leaning away. "Where did you graduate from?"

"B-Beacon Academy." She said, noticing where the question was going.

"Is that so? Do you have any proof?" Oobleck said, leaning forward once more.

"I… uh, left my scroll at home. You can't expect a huntress to be carrying her diploma on her at all times, right..?" Ruby lied through her teeth. The diploma was in fact registered along with her huntress account details within her scroll.

"That so?" Oobleck said, leaning back logically. "Then, when did you graduate, might I ask?"

Ruby gulped nervously as the question arose. She couldn't say exactly when, because then he wouldn't believe her.

"About… 7 years ago, give or take."

"Hmm. Then how on Remnant did you know about Team STRQ?" Oobleck said, raising an eyebrow.

"I...I heard it from a f-few people when I was still there."

"That… doesn't seem to make any logical sense. How did your classmates know anything remotely about Team STRQ, then?"

"Uh. Ask them." Ruby said, shrugging with a guilty smile.

"Hmm." Oobleck mumbled. The two stood in silence as Oobleck silently contemplated on what to ask next. Ruby, however, had other plans.

"Welp! Gotta go!" She said, before disappearing into a blur of white petals. There was one thing she was sure she could besides killing Grimm and people: Using her semblance to escape anything that might look unfavorable. She sighed in relief as she continued to dash through the entire school, not paying attention to which or whatever direction she was going.

Suddenly, she looks to the side to see Oobleck besides her sipping his thermos intently. She opens her mouth say something — only to go smack dab into a wall, embedding herself into it.

"Ow." She said, her face and body still embedded. Slowly, she pried herself off of it, landing on her back as Oobleck walked over and looked down at the confused huntress. How in the hell does someone like Oobleck catch up to her _semblance_?!

"How did you…?"

"Approximately 27 cups of coffee and rising." He replied nonchalantly, sipping his thermos. That kind of made sense to Ruby's mind. He was always gliding around the place during his lectures whether he wanted to or not. She suspected that if he were to put his mind to it, he _could_ technically go quite fast.

"Now, Ms. Cloak! Why did you present yourself as Summer Rose and not as yourself? Surely a trained huntress wouldn't have a need to use aliases unless he or she would need to… _hide_ something." He said, crouching down. He was still as perceptive as always.

"Well. It's relating to the chat I had with the headmaster earlier." She said slowly as she tried to avert her gaze.

"Hmm? And what did you discuss?"

"Just a few things in general. Some… rather ' _personal_ ' things as well, he would call it." She said, not abiding to detail.

"Hmm. Well, if it's the headmaster's personal life, I should not be the one putting my nose into it." He said, looking away for a moment after standing up.

Ruby sighed in relief as she stood up and thought that Oobleck was done with his series of questions. However, to her dismay, this was not the case.

"Tell me — why do you dress yourself as Summer?" He said instantaneously.

"…Excuse me?" Ruby replied in a surprised tone.

"I am asking why you wear an outfit very similar to the one Ms. Rose did." Oobleck said, not looking back.

"Well. She… was very close to me. I wanted to honor her." Ruby said, truthfully.

"Then tell me this, why do you _resemble_ her so much?" The professor asked.

"I'm… We're… We're related by blood." The huntress said truthfully once more. For the most part, she had been telling Oobleck pieces of the real thing. That must've added at least added a sense of compliance.

"Hmm. She did not talk about family that much, so I'm not sure." Oobleck said, visibly raising his unoccupied hand to his chin. "There is a contradiction, unfortunately."

Ruby's eyes widened.

"First, if you are wearing that cloak in the notion of honoring her, then why are you pretending to be her?" The professor said, finally turning to face towards her.

"It's… to hide who I am. I don't want my cover to be blown." Ruby said regretfully.

"Then why dress as someone who is presumably dead? Wouldn't that stir some suspicion? Your identity — you have yet to answer my first question. Who are you?" Oobleck repeated once more in annoyance.

"I'm a huntress." Ruby said, hoping to get away with it.

"I'm going to need more valuable information than that, Ms. Cloak."

"I'm… I'm…" She was tempted to give up on her façade. Ruby couldn't, however. That would make everything a hell of a lot more complicated. So, after thinking for a bit, she finally came to terms with an answer she could agree with.

"I'm someone this world needs in order to stop some horrible disaster from happening. Ozpin knows this." Ruby says, wincing slightly as the words leave her mouth. The professor calmly studied the huntress' expression, reading her face in hopes of understanding her more. What he saw, however, was a look of doubt and worry in which he himself had seen plenty times over the course of his life, and his time at Beacon.

"I… see." The professor says, faking a cough afterwards. "Well. I do believe I'm satisfied with what I've heard from you. I'm quite sorry indeed for pestering you about such matters! In exchange, I'll keep my voice low on details pertaining to you. Is that alright, _Ms. Rose?_ " Oobleck said before momentarily winking back at the huntress.

"That's… exactly what I wanted to hear. Thank you… _Barty_." Ruby replied gladly as she tried to hold back her laughter. Now that she thought about it, the nickname sounded rather childish and crude. Perhaps Port and Oobleck had been in the same team when they were students at Beacon?

Hearing a light beeping sound coming from her cloak, she promptly pulled out her scroll from her cloak — much to Oobleck's surprise.

"Is that a scroll? It looks quite different compared to the newest models being sold." He observed attentively.

"Uh… Yes. It is. It's… custom made." Ruby said slowly. Now that she thought of it, the scroll was a newer model compared to the ones made in the current era. Fortunately, she managed to slip by with a half-assed response. Looking down she could see an incoming call from the headmaster — Ozpin. Before answering, she looked up to Oobleck.

"It's… from Ozpin."

"Ah! I see! I see! Now —"Oobleck said, checking the time. "I need to get back to my students. I left them with a rather large assignment to do and I expected them to finish it before I returned!" He said, beginning to zoom off before something crossed his mind.

"Is… something the wrong?" Ruby said, slightly startled.

"You said you left your scroll at home." Oobleck said, re-adjusting his glasses.

"O-Oh!" The huntress' eyes widened. "I was…. Err…"

"Now, it's not nice to try and lie your way out of a situation. Unless said situation was risking something valuable to you. In which case, good luck." The professor said, taking another sip from his coffee. "However, this was not the case. I'm expecting you to be more upfront about things if we ever come in contact once more."

"I… I will." Ruby said, averting her gaze. As she looked back up to the professor once more, she sees that he had seemingly disappeared. Looking around, stunned, she finally brought the scroll back up to the side of her head.

The huntress answered the phone, only to hear a slightly annoyed Ozpin.

"I need you at the main office right now. Quickly." He groaned. With no hesitation, Ruby darted down to the main office. What could've possibly happened that he would need her attention? He seemed fine at the pace he was going — albeit slightly shaken.

She peeked around the corner to see Glynda not at the terminal. Raising an eyebrow, she slowly tread towards the doors of Ozpin's office. _'They must both be in the office, then.'_ Ruby thought as she opened the door. Her assumption was correct — they were both in said office, albeit a bit more annoyed than she expected.

"Ms. Rose. I need you to be upfront and honest with me." Ozpin said, beckoning for the huntress to come closer.

"…Y-yes?" She said nervously.

"I just had a recent call from Port earlier."

"What did… he s-say?" Ruby said, realizing that the stunt she pulled wasn't exactly what Ozpin had in mind when she said she was going to retrieve her cloak.

"He said that he saw someone who looked quite like 'Summer' peering through the doorway. They then preceded to walk inside after being spotted, and help the professor with a demonstration using only their bare hands.' Ozpin recited.

"Oh, uh. That doesn't sound _that_ bad." Ruby said hopefully. So far, Ozpin hadn't said anything that would incriminate her with the act of uncovering her identity.

"She then preceded to _punch_ the Grimm at Mach speeds, which in turn was enough to disable it for 5 solid minutes. After said minutes were over, the Grimm then proceeded to do a surprise attack — only to fail by exploding after being struck by… _a certain weapon._ " He said, a certain aggravated tone resonating from his voice.

"…what was it?" Ruby said, gulping.

"A jet black scythe."

Ruby's faced slightly turned red as she realized that her choices weren't as good as she thought they were.

"Now. I've taken the liberty of guessing who you were pretending to be during said event. You do realize the inconsistencies with your behavior compared to… _Summer's_ behavior, correct? Along with weapon skills and weapon in general." The headmaster said, his eyes narrowing slightly as his thoughts drifted for a moment. Her behavior wasn't _that_ different from Summer's. They both were childish in their own right. Perhaps it might've been that Summer was older than what he presumed this future Ruby Rose to be.

"…Yes."

"Not only did you not have the proper weapon to help your disguise, you were taught _Qrow's_ weapon skills by _Qrow_. Do you see the contradictions here?"

"…Yes."

Ozpin groaned in frustration as he placed his hand on his forehead. Not only does he have to deal with the problem in the future, he has to deal with the messes the older Ruby creates while trying to solve her predicaments as well.

A light beeping sound could be heard from the scroll on his desk. Looking down, he sees a message from no one other than Qrow himself.

" _Oz. What do you mean by, "We've received the info we needed."?"_

Ozpin hurriedly responds back.

" _Just as it says. We've received the info we needed through a broker of sorts."_

" _A broker? Who are they? How do they know about this?"_

" _Don't worry. The information is from someone who's well acquainted with what we're facing."_

" _Oz. As far as I know, there is no one that knows about this except US and the enemy at hand. I don't know what you're trying to pull here, but tell me who it is."_

Ozpin begins to respond once more, only to be interrupted by Ruby.

"Um. Who are you texting?"

"A dusty old crow. With opposable thumbs." He says, looking back down at the scroll.

"…with opposable thumbs?" Ruby said, raising an eyebrow at the thought of a bird with thumbs. "Oh! It's Uncle Qrow, isn't it?"

"Yes." Ozpin sighed.

A moment of silence passed between the two of them once more.

"Ozpin, what should I do?"

"I don't know. Perhaps we could forge you an ID or something like that so you can get settled in a bit more without being burdened with the name of your mother."

"I'm going to have to pretend to be someone else? Isn't that what you just told me not to do?" Ruby said, raising an eyebrow at the contradiction.

"Yes, except you can still be yourself. Just under a new name."

"Oh." Ruby said, giving it a moment of thought. 'A new name? What should it be then?' She thought, pondering the possibilities for a moment before her thoughts wandered back to her Uncle.

Ruby had a deep loving care for her Uncle Qrow. After all, he WAS the one who taught her how to wield a scythe in the first place. He was one to tease her often, along with telling her vivid stories of his past missions as a huntsman that always kept her wide-eyed and happy.

Slowly, a small realization came to mind.

"So…. What are we going to do about Uncle Qrow?"

"I'm not sure myself, but there's one thing I'm certain about, Ms. Rose."

"What is it?" The huntress said, her interest piqued.

"Inevitably, you're going to cross paths." Ozpin said, his hands still folded neatly.

A moment of silence ensued, only to be broken by a buzzing from the headmaster's scroll. Peering down, Ozpin's eyes scanned the message and widened.

" _I'm heading back. You better tell me who gave you the Info or else I'll have your head, got it?"_

"What's up?" Ruby said, seeing the headmaster's eyes widen unexpectedly.

"Another predicament created by your one and only 'Uncle Qrow.'" He groaned.

"What?" The huntress said, eyeing Ozpin with a confused look.

"Since we've received the info we need, he's heading back for a meeting with the inner circle."

"…Inner Circle?"

"Yes, the inner circle." The headmaster said, raising an eyebrow.

"…Who's that?"

"Us."

"W-wait. Am I a part of-"

"Yes."

"Oh." Ruby said, her eyes widening. "This is bad."

"Indeed it is." Ozpin said, taking a sip from his mug.

"Wait… can I just not show up when he goes to talk to you?" The huntress says, in hope of a better solution.

"You _could._ But that'd raise suspicions between the both of us. And an issue of trust is not to be taken lightly, especially with such a disastrous event happening in the future. Therefore, you _will_ show up. Do I make myself clear?" The headmaster explained with a serious look on his face.

"Aw crud…" She said as a long, drawn-out groan escaped from her throat.

Yet again, the two sat together in silence under a single spotlight that illuminated only one spot in the room. Glynda — who had remained quiet for some time and decided to leave in the middle of the conversation — walked back into the room to see it in complete silence.

"Ozpin, unfortunately, I could not locate an empty room within the dorms. All of them seem to be occupied by students at the moment. What shall we do about her, then?" She said, motioning towards the white cloaked huntress in front of her.

With a deep sigh, Ozpin replied, "What shall we do, indeed…" The headmaster's hands were still folded neatly together as he narrowed his eyes in thought once more. She could possibly be situated within the infirmary, however it'd be troublesome for any injured students to be hearing such noise in the morning. The staff room isn't properly equipped to handle day to day life. So what would that leave her?

"Hey… um… Maybe I could share a room with someone?" The huntress said in an honest attempt help.

Ozpin peered up back at Ruby with his eyes still narrowed. "And who do you intend to share a room with? The dorm rooms are equipped with four beds made for a group of four huntsmen. Not five."

"I don't know who but… I could sleep with my cloak against one of the walls? I'm used to doing that…?" She shrugged.

"I'll see what I can do, Ms. Rose." Ozpin said slowly.

The room became silent once more, leaving the three to their own thoughts. Ruby, in particular, had not a thought — but a question.

"…Do you know what really happened to my mom?"

* * *

 _ **Author's Notes:**_

 _ **This one took a bit of time to create. I'm still not quite happy with how it turned out.**_


	9. Chapter 9

A sigh echoed from the room. A man sat in his home, contemplating his choices as the snow lightly fell outside. A small barking sound could be heard from below, causing him the peer down to his pet dog. His expression changed as he pet his canine companion from the wooden stool he sat upon. A loud whimper could be heard as the dog peered up at their owner with puppy dog eyes. The man, seeing this, continued to pet it in an attempt to comfort his companion.

"I'm fine, Zwei. Don't worry about me." Taiyang said with a cheerful expression upon his face.

The huntsman had a lot of things on his mind. What was he going to do today? What should he do now that he had already taken Zwei out for a walk? Why is Zwei so damn durable? It doesn't make any sense for such a small pup to be _that_ strong. It just doesn't. Why is my surplus of dust missing?! Taiyang's face scrunched up in confusion as he thought more and more about why the hell Zwei was like this — unaware that his petting was becoming more and more rough on the dog. In an attempt to get his owner's attention, Zwei barked loudly, yanking his owner out of his thoughts.

"O- Oh! Sorry Zwei." Yang's father said, quickly bringing his hand away from his furry companion's head. Sighing, he went back into his thoughts. He didn't have to do any missions today. He could safely assume that his bills would be paid for quite a while because of his job. But then, his mind wandered back to what had happened to him and Ruby back when they were visiting his wife's gravestone. He didn't believe his eyes when he saw _her_ standing in front of her grave. Hell, she even turned around the look at him and her daughter. Now _that_ was alarming. His wife had been dead for years! How in the hell was she there?!

"Oh no." Taiyang's eyes widened as he stood up from his stool in shock, much to his dog's surprise.

 _His wife had come back from death to haunt him._

That had to be it, right?! She was haunting him because he wasn't there to protect her! That has to be it! Taiyang thought to himself, pacing around the room nervously. A sudden guilty feeling came over him as he thought more and more about how his wife was now haunting him after all these years. The paranoid huntsman looked around, watching for any signs of white cloaks and blank faces. His conditioned huntsman instincts kicked in, watching for any signs of suspicious noises or movement within his own home.

 _Creak._

Taiyang jumped as he heard the slight sound from right behind him, his arms up in the arm. His expression paled almost immediately as he waited for his impending doom. Slowly, he turned behind him to see — nothing. He raised an eyebrow as he scanned the room. Scratching his head, he looked down to see Zwei.

"Oh. Hey Zwei." He said as the pup looked back up at him with a confused expression.

He forgot that his dog was there with him.

Sighing, he crouched dog and pet the dog tenderly, much to Zwei's joy. The pup barked happily as he ran around in circles. A brilliant idea came to mind.

"Zwei, we're going out for another walk." Taiyang smiled as Zwei stopped and began hopping up and down in joy.

Thankfully, the headmaster at Signal had given him some time to get things together since what he saw was hurting his performance during teaching, so he had a whole three weeks off due to the headmaster being in a good mood that day. The concept itself was a simple one, even by someone like Taiyang's standards. Repent at his wife's grave and ask for forgiveness. Maybe then she'll rest in peace. Maybe.

As Zwei ran around him in circles while his owner trudged through the snow filled forest, Taiyang could not shake off an uneasy feeling. Was _she_ watching him? That was a bad thought. However, something in his mind made him shake it off. He was going to her resting place with good intentions. She couldn't possibly attack him right now… could she? The thought was a scary one, and something that wished to linger within the confines of his mind.

Finally, grave was in sight. Sighing deeply, he made his way to his wife's resting place. He stared at it, still mourning his loss as the old memories of him and his team resurfaced. They stayed together for all four years of Beacon and then some, forging unbreakable bonds that still linked them today. Or so he thought. His first love, Raven, had seemingly disappeared off of the face of Remnant, leaving behind his first child they had. Then, a couple years later, he had fallen in love with another woman, another member of his team. Summer was a kind, loving mother to both Yang and Ruby. She was always smiling, seemingly never burdened by the jobs she took as a huntress. Then one day, she never came back from a mission.

Taiyang frowned as the thought passed by once more. They had built a grave for her here at patch. All three of them visited every year in remembrance of what they all lost. Sighing once more, the huntsmen immediately shifted into a groveling stance, folding his hands together.

"I'msorrypleaseforgivemedon'thauntmeialwayslovedyouplease-"

Zwei tilted his head in confusion as he saw his owner begin to speak at alarming fast speeds. The words eventually turned into gibberish as the man seemingly went insane. This went on for half an hour as the huntsman cried out endlessly, seemingly waiting for a response from his dear beloved. As the man's lungs had finally reached his limit, he took a deep breath and finally sat up from his position. Heavy breathing ensued as the huntsman peered up at the clouds in the sky.

"I'm sorry, Summer..."

Taiyang sat there in silence as the snow fell lightly around him. Zwei nudged him tenderly in hopes of getting back to the house. However, the attempt made no difference in his owner's mood as he continued to sit there, contemplating about his dead wife. His eyes widened as he heard movement a few meters away from him. Quickly sitting up, he turned and faced the source of the sound. It was from the forest of hibernating trees behind him. Zwei started barking loudly at the approaching threat.

"S-Summer?! Is that you?!" Taiyang shouted out in paranoia.

"I'm sorry!" He cried out to deaf ears.

Finally, a figure emerged from behind the trees and pounced towards the season huntsman. Taiyang's mouth flew open as he could only see the approaching threat get closer and closer. How a terrifying force his wife had become! Her teeth had grown to considerable lengths, her body covered in a deep layer of fur and white plating! And worst of all, the top of her face was covered up with a white mask with red markings! Oh wait.

Narrowing his eyes, Taiyang instantly regained his composure and proceeded to punch the approaching Beowolf in the face, knocking him back into a tree. He sighed as he just caught himself believing that his wife had just become a Grimm.

"I'm an idiot." He chuckled to himself as he focused on the threat at hand. A brilliant idea comes to mind as Taiyang peered towards Zwei. The Grimm charged towards the huntsman again, only to get a boot to the face, stunning it.

"C'mere Zwei!" Taiyang said, beckoning Zwei towards him. In a joyful manner, the corgi ran towards him as he obliged his owner's intentions. Yelling, he threw Zwei into the air, making him zoom into the clouds. Chuckling to himself, he peered up for a moment before focusing on the Beowolf once more. The Grimm was still, in fact, trying to bite out his jugular. Dodging its sluggish movements, the hunter ducked under a slash to deliver an uppercut to the face with his right arm, stunning it once more. Reeling back his left fist, he threw a punch that sent the Grimm staggering back. Taiyang then immediately proceeded to dropkick the Beowolf to send it sprawling. Moments later, the Grimm then began to slowly turn into black smoke before its body disappeared entirely.

Smirking, Taiyang raised a fist in triumph. It had been a while since he had to beat down a Grimm with his bare hands. The sense of adrenaline never really occurred when he was using Crush and Sunder — the Grimm would just die after getting struck once. Not that he'd detest using his two best friends in a fight, they served him well after all these years.

Once again, something caught his eye in the distance. Black blurs rapid approached towards him — the intent to kill emanating from the Grimm. Taiyang's eyes widened as he smiled with a wide grin — only for it to drop as he realized where he was. He was fighting Grimm in front of his dead wife's grave — now _that_ was just a disservice to the dearly departed. Suddenly, another brilliant idea came into his mind: _Don't allow the gravestone to be hit. Protect it._ That'll surely balance it out, right? _'I'll be fiiiiine.'_ Taiyang thought as he readied himself for the approaching creatures of Grimm.

* * *

 _I am the father, now hear me roar_

 _You've made a big mistake, I'm here to settle the score_

 _I know your methods and I can see_

 _you've taken liberties with all that is dear to me_

 _I kept my distance to give them space_

 _but if you cross the line, I'll meet you face to face, yeah_

 _I didn't come to negotiate_

 _You've lit the powder keg, and I'm gonna detonate_

The older Ruby Rose listened on to her new album she had just acquired from Vale's commercial district. This particular album struck a chord with her as she bought it with reckless abandon. She had plenty of money from her job as a huntress — she could go on _plenty_ of shopping sprees without the worry of running out Lien. She looked out of the window, watching the clouds go by slowly as the birds remained silent.

* * *

Taiyang was visibly enjoying himself as he punched another Beowolf square on the snout while taking mind of his dearly departed's resting place. Following up with a roundhouse kick, he launched the Grimm into another one of its kind. Upon collision, both of them disappeared into a black cloud of smoke. His mind wandered slightly as he realized that _Zwei had not come down yet._ Did he overdo it? No, he obviously knew his own strength. That would be almost impossible. Perhaps he grew wings and moved to greener pastures? No! Of course not, that'd be a stupid idea! The hunter shook his head in hopes of getting rid of such thoughts.

 _But then again… Zwei did like exploring places._ It wouldn't be _too_ farfetched, right? Taiyang stood up straight with his hand on his chin, contemplating on about what happened to his favorite canine companion.

"Yang and Ruby are gonna kill me for this." He groaned.

Slowly, a Beowolf circled around the huntsman hoping to capitalize on what seemed like him in a vulnerable state. Lunging forward he threw his claws at the hunter's blind spot — only for it to bounce off and impact the Grimm in its face.

A shrill howl could be heard from Taiyang's side. Peering to the left, he sees a Grimm clasping its face with its paws. The Beowolf stares at the huntsman, its eyes burning with hatred. A smirk crept upon Taiyang's face as he realized what just happened. The Grimm's attack bounced off when he subconsciously activated his semblance.

His semblance was a simple one which allowed him to focus his aura into a shield that redirected the force from an attack back to the attacker. Problem was, his semblance was limited to only shielding one side of his body. Good thing was, he was skilled enough with it now to shift the shield's position almost instantly. It was a defensive semblance with offensive capabilities if used properly against certain attacks. Paired with the fact that he was, in fact, a brawler — he seemed good all-around in a fight.

It was a good self-defense mechanism as well. It allowed any objects thrown at him to rebound back to the one who threw it — much to Qrow's dismay during their time at Beacon. Man, good times.

Looking around, he realized that the number of Grimm around him had diminished rapidly — save for the Grimm to his left and another Beowolf. Cracking his neck, he finally got bored and decided to finish off the remaining Grimm. As the Grimm to the left struggled to its feet, Taiyang firmly planted his foot into the Grimm's face once more and stomped his face in — caving in the poor creature's skull. Looking to the right, he sees the last Beowolf lunge at him with reckless abandon. He ducked under the swipe from his claw, and delivered a powerful uppercut to the Grimm's snout, sending it flying into the clouds.

"Shoryuken!" He yelled out after having struck the Beowolf, a grin still lying on his face.

He sat down next to gravestone, peering up into the sky. What was he doing again? He can't seem to remember what he was doing here. Nor the fact that he thought he was by his dearly departed. A buzzing sound could be heard coming from his shorts. Taking out his scroll, he sees that the incoming message was from Ruby, his daughter.

 _hey dad, I thought it would be a good idea to tell you this to cheer u up!_

 _I found someone you might like!_

 _hint: thus kindly I scatter_

 _I luv u! 3_

 _-ruby_

Thus Kindly I Scatter? What kind of hint was that? Is it related to one of Ruby's friends at Beacon? Wait, she made some friends?! Good going, Ru! But seriously, how was he supposed to figure out what that-

The huntsman looked to his side where his wife's gravestone was.

"WHAT THE HEL-"

 _Thud._

Zwei had just landed on his head.

* * *

 _I've been in mourning for twelve long years_

 _I'm here to break these chains, I've come to bury the fear_

 _I've woken up from the fitful sleep_

 _This is my cross to bear, I've got a charge to keep_

 _I made a promise to raise them right_

 _Guarded and kept them safe; I taught them how to fight_

 _But if their shelter is blown away_

 _I'll be the firewall, and there will be hell to pay_

Ruby sipped her pick-me-up as she continued to sit idly in the room she was sharing with a couple of students. Thankfully, they didn't mind her being there after Ozpin himself introduced her. She was glad that they didn't mind. She shouldn't have been in the past in the first place.

She sat up from the chair near the windowsill and glanced into the mirror from across the room. When Coco heard that she was going clothes shopping, she immediately hopped in to help her newly acquainted friend. It wasn't that she minded shopping for some new clothes, she enjoyed looking for new things to wear. What she actually disliked, however, was how long it took for them to shop for clothes. Seeing the almost infinite stores of Lien Ruby had, Coco had taken advantage of it by buying a mountain of clothes, extending the overall time by an extra 5 hours. They had taken around 3 hours solely in and out of dressing room, seeing which styles fit the huntress more.

It was safe to say that, Ruby was not going to be in need of clothes anytime soon.

 _So come on, show me what you're made of_

 _I am not afraid of this juggernaut_

 _I'm packing vengeance, enough to bring you to your knees_

 _Give me your best shot, I can take the damage_

 _Don't care what advantage you think you've got_

 _Pull out the big guns, tap into your armory_

 _Put 'em up so you can answer to me_

For today, she was intent wearing a black sweater and shorts with black stockings underneath. She also had her white cloak over most of it as always. Coco, of course, wasn't happy with it and gave Ruby an accusing look when she saw what she was wearing. The huntress felt an obvious buzzing within her shorts and pulled out her scroll once again. It was from an unknown caller. Raising an eyebrow, she answered it.

 _You can rest assured there's nothing I will not endure_

 _i_ _f it will keep my children far away from pain_

 _I have seen the cost of all the battles I have lost_

 _and I am not about to let this end the same_

 _This will be the measure of devotion to my treasures_

 _They're the only future I have ever known_

 _They are all I've got, so I will give it one more shot_

 _'Cause all I really have to fear is that I might end up alone_

"…Hello?" The huntress called out, turning off the music as she took off her headphones.

"Hello, 'Ms. Rose!'" A hearty voice rang from the scroll.

It was Professor Port.

"Yes? What is it?" She replied calmly.

"I'd like you to come to the combat arena for a 'demonstration!'" He said loudly into the scroll, much to Ruby's discomfort.

Why was he always so loud? Furthermore, a _demonstration_? Again? ' _Surely there's more to this than he's letting on.'_ She thought to herself. Her stomach dropped as she thought about the implications. Was he trying to reveal me? No, that'd only work on those who knew Summer's combat style. What in the hell was he thinking?

Sighing, the grabbed her combat gear and changed for the upcoming match. One could never be too prepared.

As she made her way to the arena, her mind wandered to and fro about what was going to happen. Was it truly just a casual demonstration? Or was it something else in disguise? He might have been her professor, but she knew all too well that she never really paid any attention to him. She made her way down the staircase into a dark corridor, a gleam of light coming from around the corner. As she got closer and closer to the entrance, the light came closer and closer causing the huntress to lift her arm to shield herself from the light.

Finally, as her eyes adjusted, her eyes widened as her stomach dropped at the sight of a massive crowd of people in the stands.

"Kick their butts, Mom!" She hears loudly from the crowd. The huntress turns to see Team RWBY cheering for her in the front row. Ruby and Yang in particular were waving signs that both said 'Go Summer!' while the rest of their team sat in silence. The rest of the crowd was just cheering for whatever reasons they had.

She looked up at the giant board of information to her left. It had three aura bars showing the names and pictures of the fighters. It said 'Summer Rose' and — her eyes widened at what she saw — Professor Port and Oobleck's name on remaining gauges.


	10. Chapter 10

"Don't hold this against me, Ms. Rose." Oobleck said loudly as the match sounded off.

Evidently, this was not the best predicament to find oneself in. It carried all sorts of risks which may or may not bend the fabric of reality. Ruby couldn't help it really, things starting going wrong the moment she set foot in the past. It was, however, true that she was the cause of whatever the hell was happening to her. None of these seemingly hypothetical scenarios would have happened if she hadn't somehow find herself stuck in the past with no way out. Granted, she didn't really object to having a second chance — but this shouldn't have happened in the first place. Clearing her head of any stray and philosophical thoughts, she focused on the task ahead of her. What was she going to do?

Well, it was blatantly obvious for the most part — defeat the two opponents in front of her. Which shouldn't have been _too_ hard. If she focused on dodging while delivering a series of relentless slashes and swings with her scythe, she should have been able to knock out _at least_ one before having to jump back. However, Ruby did not account the fact that the two worked like cogs in a machine. They acted in unison, attacked in unison, and thought in unison — much like the late Team RWBY. So, if one were to attack her and miss, the other would go after the opening created by the first.

She swore under her breath as she narrowly dodged Port's axe as it passed by her, narrowly cutting a strand of hair off her head.

' _Must have been on the same team.'_ The huntress thought to herself as she began to analyze the situation thoroughly.

She eyed the giant display above the stands. All three of their bars were still completely full. No hits taken, but no attacks landed. Teamwork gave the two professors an edge over her. She had no one else to rely on besides her at the time being. The sighed sourly as the memories of her team passed by in her head. She _really_ didn't enjoy losing them at all. How lucky of them to have retained their team members.

"You seem far too cautious of us, perhaps you fear the great and all powerful Peter Port! Hoho!" Port's voice bore into Ruby's mind like someone had just started kicking her head while she was asleep.

"Oh shut it." The huntress scowled back at the flamboyant huntsman before her, before eyeing Oobleck behind him, his thermos extended.

'What's the matter, scared? Hoho!" Peter said loudly, causing the crowd to go into an uproar.

Okay. Now this was just getting annoying.

Shifting her scythe into its alternate form, she disappeared into a cloud of white rose petals that rose high up into the air, much to the crowd's surprise. Oobleck raised an eyebrow before his eyes widened as he sees a blur speeding towards him at inhuman speeds. Pushing Port out of the way, they narrowly escaped being impaled by a future Ruby stabbing her scythe into the ground next to them, causing it to cave in slightly. The professor eyes immediately locked with the huntress' silver eyes as she ripped her scythe out of the ground as rushed towards the two of them.

Narrowly dodging a few thrusts from Crescent Rose, he immediately parried it to the side and tried to land a hit with his thermos kanabo only for it to lock with Crescent Rose. Reeling back, Ruby spun and shifted her scythe back into its original form in order to slash at the professor — only to jump back as she sees Port's axe almost strike her once again.

"Tsk." Ruby said sourly while she shifted Crescent Rose into rifle form.

Firing rounds of fire dust at the two professors, she quickly sees them whizz past the two professors as they expertly dodge the incoming projectiles. Aiming behind her, she grunted as she blasted herself towards the two, shifting forms in midair back to her scythe. Seeing this, the two began firing upon Ruby with their weapons — only for it to amount to nothing as the incoming fire did nothing to slow her as Ruby spun herself to deflect the incoming shots. A visible white hurricane could be seen speeding the two as they made an attempt to dodge the incoming force of Ruby — only for them to get sucked up into the vortex.

Inside, the two professors are whirled about as they are caught inside of the raging twister. As they are sent spiraling to the top of the storm, Ruby abruptly stops her rotation and peers up at the two red and green ragdolls above her. The audience watches as the vortex subside and sees the two professors seemingly suspended midair above the white cloaked huntress.

Immediately, Ruby shifts her weapon back into rifle form and fires at the sods above her. Much to her amusement, all shots landed as giant clouds of smoke engulfed the area above her. Finally, she uses the recoil from Crescent Rose to send her rocketing towards the ground. She lands on her feet as she hoists her unofficial firstborn over her shoulder for a splendid finish. However, as the crowd remained silent, something began stirring within her stomach.

Something was off.

Peering up towards the giant, black smoke clouds, she could see two things plummeting back down to the arena. Much to her dismay, she sees the dastardly duo crack the ground they landed on. She sees Oobleck and Port seemingly unharmed, save for the ashen color their clothing had taken from the explosions.

"How…!?" She said, dumbfounded.

"Sheer Tenacity!" Professor Port shouted out as he laughed heartily.

"It'll take more than that to take out two huntsman, Ms. Rose." Oobleck says, giving Ruby a raised eyebrow.

Glancing at the display, her eyes widened considerably as she saw her opponent's aura gauges.

Oobleck's was inched to around 95%. Green.

Port's was inched to around 92%. _Green._

Her own was sitting at a slightly chopped 85%. Green.

This couldn't be possible. Those dust rounds normally tore through almost everything she fired them at. She stared at the two dusting themselves off with fearful eyes. How in the hell did..?! What?! Ruby could understand losing some aura after seemingly deflecting those projectiles, but how did they remain less scathed than her?! Was it a product of their semblances?! What kind of semblance did they have, then?!

Suddenly, the sound of gunfire yanked her out of her thoughts. Quickly approaching were balls of ignited fire dust. Swiftly, she evaded the incoming barrage of projectiles before fading away into three separate balls of white rose petals. One of them whizzed to the left while the other dashed to the right. The third and final cloud of white rose petals rose above the gunfire. All three sped towards Professors Oobleck and Port, much to their surprise.

They glanced at one another before firing at the two clouds to the left and right. Both igniting into a massive fire before immediately burning out. So that must mean… The both of them immediately shot at the third remaining cloud of rose petals — _only to be rammed by an opposing force to their right._ Gritting his teeth at the sudden impact to his side, all push forces were immediately stopped as he activated his semblance before swatting back his attacker, knocking the seasoned huntress back a few meters.

A stunned and confused Ruby Rose stared at her two opponents. What was _that_? How did he stop all of the incoming force _that_ easily?! She jumped back even further, taking a furtive glance at the aura gauges on the display.

Oobleck's gauge was at roughly 86% after taking the brunt of the attack. Still Green.

Port himself did not take it, but was still faced with the initial force. 79%. _Still Green._

The huntress then glanced at her own.

76%. Closer to Yellow than Green. _Shit._

Hold on, she had to figure out _something_. Oobleck had seemingly stopped all the force of Crescent Rose's attack after the initial impact, which possibly meant that he had pooled his aura into that one side. _No, that would mean his aura would be more exhausted that it is right now._ It was the work of his _semblance._ Something about his semblance stopped all the incoming force by hardening his aura at no expense. So would that mean it was something akin to him wearing heavy, reinforced plate armor laced with some type of dust?

No, that would mean he would have trouble moving around. Perhaps it only activated at first impact, thus rendering the user fully mobile until then. Which meant that he had some sort of force absorbent force field and full control over his movement. Now that she thought about it, when she crashed into her after trying to escape Port's class, he wasn't entirely fazed by the sudden impact. Shit. Were there really no downsides to it?!

And what about Port? His aura should've gone down further after being struck by the rounds she fired at the both of them!

' _SHEER TENACITY!'_

Oh dust damn it.

* * *

Ruby's eyes widened as she saw what was laid out in front of her. Her amazing, super-duper awesome mother was actually losing!

"Yaaaang!" She whined.

"I know, I know, Rubes!" Yang said, peering towards her sister, then at the aura gauges.

"Huh. I didn't think he was actually being serious during his lectures." A low voice said to the left of them. Blake had just begun to speak after being silent for most of the fight.

"Who knew?"

Team RWBY stayed quiet, immediately realizing what Blake had meant. She was right, though. The tales Port usually told during his lectures class were actually showing true during this match, much to Team RWBY's surprise and disdain.

"She's actually fairing pretty well against those two." Weiss said as she studied the older Ruby contently.

"But she's losiiing!" Ruby said, grabbing Weiss by the shoulders.

"Get your hands off me!" Weiss said, brushing Ruby's hands off of her in disgust. "I meant that she's doing better than what I expected!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Yang said, giving Weiss a glare.

"Well, when you think of how well Oobleck and Port work together in unison like that, you'd expect them to mop the floor with whoever stood in their way!"

"Heeey! That's my mom you're talking about!" Yang said in annoyance.

"Heeey! That's our mom you're talking about!" Ruby chimed in.

"Don't get me wrong, she's amazing for being able to hold on for this long!" Weiss says, waving her hands in front of her face.

"Weiss is right." Blake said as she stared at the fight intently.

"Blake!" Yang said as she saw her partner's betrayal.

* * *

Ruby had had it up to here with the duos' outstanding teamwork. After not being able to do substantial damage to Oobleck by only whittling down his aura to 78% with Port's still being at a cozy 79% after a solid 5 _minutes_ while her own just plummeted to a pitiful 65% in the yellow, she just about had it.

She lowered her guard, much to her opponents' confusion.

"Finally decided to give up, miss?" Port bantered on.

Huntress stood there, batting no eye to the intentions of the two opponents in front of her. The crowd goes silent as the three hunters stood there unmoving, waiting for one to make a move. Slowly, white rose petals began to come off of Ruby's cloak unendingly and began to circle around the arena as if an air current was guiding their way. These seconds passed on, the petals slowly scattering into the air around them, much to the professors' confusion.

"..White?" The younger Ruby said to herself as the crowd remained silent throughout the strange ordeal.

Finally, the huntress opened her eyes and what her opponents saw made them stagger back in shock. Ruby's silver eyes were leaking a strong, white light from their sockets. Gasps and screams could be heard from crowd as the light seemed to leak out more and more from the huntress' eyes. Port's eyebrows shot up to his hairline, finally revealing his rarely seen eyes, as he sees Ruby give a faint smile at the two.

She had never really been able to master this. Master the power that was passed down through the generations of her family. She never had a tutor. Never had access to this power. Hell, never really knew she had it until several months had passed when she was in Beacon. It first awoke when during the first catastrophe that destroyed Beacon itself, making it a home for countless creatures of Grimm. Since then, she wasn't sure what had happened at all. Until shortly after, her uncle finally gave her a cryptic explanation that made her rattle her brain around in an attempt to understand. But now, after everything that had happened to her, she could finally use it on command.

Well, not to the extent where she could freeze a Grimm dragon within mere moments. There seemed to be always a drawback to using the powers of her silver eyes. The moment she first used it, she let loose every inch of power within her which made her collapse from all the energy expended from her emotional outburst. It was almost akin to a double edge sword. The more she indulged in it, the more energy she expended almost to the point of exhaustion. So, little by little, she tested how far she could let it go. After years of trial and error, she had finally found the limit.

As her the light around her eyes stabilized themselves, she took a low stance with Crescent Rose. Quickly, she professors began to brace themselves for an incoming attack — only to see that the huntress was already in their faces. The power of the silver eyes was a sort of booster for her aura. It made her aura's overall strength double along with any already occurring bonuses in strength, speed, and defense from having an aura active in the first place. Ruby was already in position to start slashing. In a panic, Oobleck raised his extended thermos to his defense — only to stop dead in his tracks as a barrage of almost invisible attacks hit him head on.

Port, seeing his comrade in trouble, spun around in an attempt to use his momentum to add extra force to his axe swing — only to tumble back as a high speed kick to the face struck him in mere milliseconds.

Ruby continued to wail on Oobleck with unyielding fury in rapid succession. Oobleck's desperate attempts to activating his semblance had been for naught as he couldn't retain his focus through the storm of Crescent Rose's slices and dices. It wasn't long until his vast surplus of aura drained from his form.

Much to his surprise, his attacker threw their own weapon in the air. His focus still on the scythe spinning in the air above him, he didn't realize that he had just been entitled to an entire second to a flurry of punches, jobs, uppercuts, hooks, and kicks from the huntress in front of him.

She shouted angrily as she finishes her combo with her reeling her fist back as far as possible, seemingly creating an opening for her hapless victim in front of her for a counterattack. Which in fact, Oobleck did take as a logical decision only to not see Ruby pouring all of her enhanced aura into the foot below her reeled back fist into a finishing strike that sent him flying across the arena. Upon impact, the shield that had been protecting the audience had cracked dangerously, much to the crowd's surprise.

Glancing to the display, Ruby grinned slightly as she sees Oobleck's aura meter drop drastically into an tiny sliver upon the impact. Looking back to the last standing professor to the left of her, he sees him still standing defiantly as he brandished her axe.

"I'm afraid I can't let you get away with that, miss!" Port said in a serious tone as he fired a few shots from his weapon and then began to rush in.

Catching Crescent Rose as it almost struck the ground below her, she took a low stance as she adjusted her grip with her unofficial firstborn. She had learned this trick from a certain bastard who allegedly almost killed several times over. Pouring her remaining aura into the soles of her feet and activating her semblance once more, she rocketed forward in an instant and passed a surprised Port. The crowd waited in silence as they saw Ruby standing there as if she had just swung her scythe with one hand. Port seemed frozen in place, unable to move. Then, after a grueling moment, the professor collapsed on the floor as his weapon fell from his grip and landed with a solid clang.

Standing up straight, she took a good look at the aura meters, sighing in relief at what she saw.

Summer Rose: 35%. Yellow.

Bartholomew Oobleck: 3%. Red.

Then to Port's.

Peter Port: 7%. _Red._


End file.
